


The Young Rogue Order of the Phoenix

by sssssssim



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-22 12:31:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 39,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11967462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sssssssim/pseuds/sssssssim
Summary: Harry gets chosen by the Goblet of Fire to participate in the TriWizard Tournament, alongside Scott McCall. At that moment, he didn't think he'll get so many friends out of the experience. The werewolves were a surprise, too.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> TODAY, OF ALL THE DAYS, ON THE DAY ALBUS RIDES THE EXPRESS FOR THE FIRST TIME, ON THE DAY OF "19 YEARS LATER", THIS IS STARTING! 
> 
> So sometime in January!,  
> [@Jersey](http://jacksonwhittemoresbutt.tumblr.com/) and I got into a discussion about a Teen Wolf/Harry Potter fusion. 8 months and almost 40.000 words later, here it is!  
> As usual, I wrote this as I was watching the HP movies, starting with the 4th one, till the very and. As of Teen Wolf, this features the original gang.  
> It's a long one, but I'll post it relatively quickly. And the rest of the chapters won't be as long as this one, but. ENJOY!  
> Sterek. Harry and Ginny. Hermione and Ron. The relationships aren't that important, tho. The story is. :)
> 
> As always, I'll happily take your feedback, thank you

 Ϟ

Harry really did LOVE magic. Sitting outside the tent at the Qudditch World Cup, having a cup of butterbeer, surrounded by wizards and witches, everyone excited about the upcoming match, magic bustling from every other tent, Harry really was the happiest he has ever been.

Nothing could have brought down his mood, even if Hermione’s glares were trying their hardest.

‘Hermione’, he bumped her shoulder, ‘if you don’t stop glaring at him, it won’t take long before he storms up here and demands explanations.’

She huffed, eyes not moving once from Stiles Stilinski.

‘He started it!’, Hermione angrily gritted, which yeah, she was kind of right.

Stiles Stilinski was in their year at school, a Slytherin unlike any other. For one, he was a muggle, the first in recorded history to join that house.

Secondly, he was brilliant. Most of the Slytherins were smart, yes, and they had good grades, but Stiles, he was as brilliant as Hermione. Almost. Every year, they’d be in direct competition over the highest grades in school, and every year thus far, Hermione had beaten him, but just barely.

Thirdly, Stiles was incredibly weird because he didn’t have any Slytherin friends. He always ate alone at the table, didn’t like spending his time in their common room, and he was always seen next to Scott McCall, a Hufflepuff.

Sometimes, Stiles was seen with Derek Hale, the equally weird Hufflepuff recluse, who almost never spoke with anybody else, he didn’t even spoke to Stiles that often.  Once or twice, they all sat with Allison Argent and Lydia Martin, two Ravenclaw girls who were very high up on the popularity chain of Hogwarts.

Stiles and Hermione only spoke once, but Harry has heard his friend rant about Stilinski more than once. Once a week.

And Hermione was right, because Stiles did start it. At the beginning of their second year, he came up to Hermione in the library and started quizzing her on the upcoming History of Magic topics. At first, Hermione answered all the questions, of course she did, but at one point, she stopped and asked why he was interrogating her.

Stiles raised a condescending eyebrow, saying that he wanted to see if she really was as smart as she claimed to be. Hermione got instantly annoyed, saying she didn’t _claim_ to be anything, and even if she did, quizzing her about the books she read wasn’t a good way of figuring out if she was smart.

Of course, Stiles got angry at that, and everything escalated in both of them getting banned from the library for the rest of the day.

They never exchanged another word again, and hardly ever stopped glaring at each other. Harry didn’t really get it.

‘Oh-oh’, Ron whispered. ‘They’re coming our way.’

Looking up, Harry saw that Stiles and Scott were, in fact, coming their way. He felt Hermione take a long breath, willing herself to calm down. It mostly worked.

Scott, who was the type of guy who was always grinning, waved at them and looked like he wanted to stop and say hello, but Stiles dragged him away, loudly saying that Derek was waiting for them.

After they were out of ear shot, Hermione let out an angry huff of air.

‘I really do dislike him.’

Harry rolled his eyes.

Ϟ

To say that everybody was excited about the TriWizard Tournament was an understatement. Harry, not so much.

He was excited to see it, sure, but everybody assumed that he will be entering. He could do it, the age limit was 14. But he didn’t _want_ to do it.

As Hermione put it, late one night when even she got annoyed with everyone coming to ask Harry about it, it seemed like life was always throwing him into dangerous situations. Why should he tempt fate?

So, against everyone else’s wishes, he didn’t enter his name. Harry just sat back, and watched all the other Hogwarts students, from year four to year seven, all excited to place their name in the Goblet.

Ϟ

‘And the Hogwarts champion is…’, Dumbledore’s loud voice boomed, ‘Scott McCall!’

There were a few seconds of mostly silence, in which there was heard a murmur of ‘Who?’ and ‘Who’s that?’

And then Stiles jumped out of his seat and started yelling in excitement, clapping like a madman. Derek soon followed and then the Hufflepuffs were screaming too, finally realizing that Scott was one of their own.

But after Scott made his way through the door he was directed, silence fell across the Great Hall again, when the Goblet spit out another piece of paper.

Harry was already starting to feel uneasy. When Dumbledore’s eyes moved to him after they skimmed the paper in his hand, Harry’s heart started beating rapidly.

When Dumbledore said his name, all Harry could do was stare. Stare at Dumbledore, as everyone else stared at him.

Hermione urgently said his name, but Harry still couldn’t move. He heard footsteps in the otherwise deadsilent hall, but he couldn’t look up to see who was walking.

And then there were a pair of hands on his shoulders, startling him. Harry looked up straight into Scott McCall’s surprisingly kind eyes.

‘Good thing I walk slowly, right?’, the boy smiled a bit. ‘Come on then, we’ll go together.’

Scott didn’t wait for an answer, just gripped his shoulder tightly and led Harry to the side of the teacher’s table, through a door and a corridor.

He still heard people calling him a cheat.

Ϟ

Everyone in the room was talking very loudly and very fast, Harry couldn’t keep up with them.

The other three champions were silent, though, glaring at him.

Harry wanted to tell them all that he didn’t put his name in, but he couldn’t get his mouth to open, and he couldn’t get his hands to stop shaking.

‘Harry’, a loud voice boomed over the commotion, and when he looked up, he was surprised to see that it came from Scott. Silence fell in the room, so the boy’s voice echoed when he spoke.

‘Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?’

‘No’, Harry’s voice shook. ‘No’, he said more strongly.

‘Did you make anyone else put your name for you?’

‘No, I swear I didn’t.’

Scott nodded, his eyes moving first to Dumbledore, then to Crouch.

‘He’s not lying’, was all Scott said, and soon after, it was decided that Harry will be competing in the TriWizard Tournament.

Ϟ

Rita Skeeter’s article was a disaster, and the fallout from it was even worse. Ron still wasn’t talking to Harry, and it seemed like the school’s hatred for the traitor grew as well.

On his way to lunch the day the article appeared in the Prophet, Harry’s way was blocked by Malfoy and a couple of other Slytherins.

They were all wearing brightly colored pins, that said _Support Scott McCall – The Real Hogwarts Champion_. Just as Harry finished reading it, Malfoy pressed on the pin, and the letters changed, to _Potter Stinks_.

Harry could feel his anger simmering right under the surface and he was sure that as soon as Malfoy said one word, Harry would punch him and, most likely, never stop.

‘God damn it, Malfoy’, a new voice said.

Harry turned around and watched in surprise as Stilinski came by his side.

‘I thought I told you to stop it with these stupid pins’, Stiles went on, glaring all the while.

Malfoy’s look changed from amused to angry in a blink. ‘I don’t take orders from _mudbloods_.’

Somehow, Harry knew what was going to happen. So he spread an arm out just in time, stopping Stiles from advancing on Malfoy.

‘Stop it with the pins’, Stilinski said slowly, glaring daggers at the group of Slytherins. ‘Scott hates them.’

With that, he turned to Harry.

‘Come on then, we’re having lunch outside.’

Harry frowned.

‘Planning session’, Stilinski went on, like that explained anything.

When Harry still didn’t move, the other boy rolled his eyes and grabbed his arm, dragging him away. Harry was too stunned to say anything.

Ϟ

Once in the courtyard, Stiles led them to the lake, at a spot close to the Weeping Willow, where people were already waiting.

Scott was there, sitting on a blanket with Allison Argent, their hands linked together in her lap. Next to her stood Lydia Martin, with her hair perfectly curled and nails painted as red as blood, looking like everything was beneath her. The three of them seemed to be very deep in conversation.

A few steps away, Derek was sitting down on the grass, a book in his lap and a calm, neutral expression on his face. By his shoulder was Hermione, sitting on another blanket, her eyes moving quickly, from Scott, to Derek, to the girls.

When her eyes fell on Harry, he saw tension rushing out of her shoulders, but not the apprehension in her eyes. And when she noticed that Stiles was the one bringing Harry, tension settled on her shoulders again.

Stiles didn’t say anything, as he all but pushed Harry to sit down next to Hermione on the blanket, and as he sat down in the grass next to Derek.

Who slowly closed his book, looking up at Harry.

‘I tried to get Weasley, but he ran away.’

‘I tried too’, Hermione said, somewhat meekly. She didn’t add anything else.

Harry shook his head, because he didn’t want to deal with Ron right now.

‘What’s this about?’, he asked instead, looking to Stiles.

But Stiles wasn’t the one to answer, Scott did.

‘I just thought we could… talk.’

Harry frowned.

‘I know you didn’t put your name in the Goblet’, Scott said in a somewhat calming voice, ‘and I know you didn’t want to do this. I get it.’

‘Do you?’, Harry couldn’t help but snap. ‘Because you _did_ put your name in.’

Everybody seemed surprised by what he said, and Harry realized he may have been too harsh.

Scott tilted his head. ‘You’re right, I guess. But I didn’t want to do it either. My dad made me do it. It’s a … long story. I never really thought’, he took a deep breath, ‘I’d actually get chosen.’

‘So, really, you’re both screwed.’, Stiles piped up, obnoxiously cheery.

Harry ignored him. ‘So what do you want?’, he asked Scott.

‘To make that clear, for one. And’, he tilted his head, ‘An ally wouldn’t hurt.’

‘You can’t’, Hermione said. ‘The tournament-‘

‘Doesn’t forbid allies, I read the rules’, Stiles interrupted.

‘Well, yes’, she huffed angrily, ‘but they can’t really help each other during the tasks, can they? It’s an _individual_ competition.’

‘Depends on the tasks’, Stiles shrugged.

Harry knew that Hermione was getting riled up, so he talked before she could.

‘How did you know?’, he asked Scott. ‘After the Goblet chose us, you knew I wasn’t lying. How?’

Scott shared a look with Derek, before grinning goofily. ‘I have a weird six sense when it comes to liars. I can smell them a mile away.’

Stiles snorted at that. Harry… didn’t believe Scott for one second, but he also realized that there was nothing he could do about it.

So he turned to Lydia and Allison, which were the odd ones out.

Stiles and Scott were best friends, everyone knew this, and they were both friendly enough with Derek. But the girls, Harry could count the times he has seen them together on the fingers on one hand, and this was the first time he has seen Allison and Scott holding hands.

‘Oh, we’re the brains of this operation’, Lydia said easily. ‘The boys are just our hired muscle.’

‘I’m smarter than you’, Stiles said, once again going completely ignored.

‘We just want to keep Scott safe’, Allison told Harry. ‘It seems like, sooner or later, you might have a hand in that.’

‘Plus, this has to do with Voldermort, right?’

Harry froze completely when Stiles said that. Because he said it so… easily. Nobody has ever said his name so easily, nobody except Harry and maybe, Dumbledore.

‘What do you mean?’, Hermione asked in a barely controlled voice.

Stiles raised an eyebrow. ‘It’s kind of obvious. Quirell, the Chamber, Sirius Black. And now the Mark at the Quidditch cup. It all started when you came to school, signs of his return started when you came to school.’ He shrugged, easily. ‘You didn’t put your name in the Goblet, it’s clear that someone wants to hurt you. Voldermort is the logical assumption. And as Allison said, we just don’t want Scott to get hurt in the crossfire.’

Harry had no idea what to say to that, so he looked to Hermione. She was also lost for words, staring at Stiles with incredulity.

‘You don’t have to say anything now’, Derek said. ‘You’ve got a bit of time till the first task. We’ll… keep in touch.’

‘Sure’, Scott smiled easily.

He then moves his attention went back to Allison and Lydia, picking up whatever they were discussing before. Derek opened his book back and Stiles started reading it over his shoulder.

It was a clear dismissal, so Harry helped Hermione up and they both got out of there.

‘That was weird’, he said once they were far enough.

She shook her head, clearly anxious. ‘I don’t know, Harry. I don’t know if we can trust them.’

He frowned at that. ‘You think they’re working for Voldermort?’

‘Well, no’, she looked sheepish, ‘that does sound ridiculous. But I can’t see it, why they would be willing to help you.’

‘They’re not’, Harry said slowly. ‘They’re willing to help me if I help Scott. It’s… They explained it quite well, Hermione. I mean, I understand it.’

She didn’t look convinced, but Harry let it drop.

As Derek said, they had time.

Ϟ

Harry didn’t sleep a wink the night he found out what the first task was, debating if he should tell Scott or not. In the end, he was pretty sure that Krum and Fleur will be informed, so Scott would be the only one left out.

And Harry couldn’t have that on his conscience.

The problem was that Scott wasn’t in classes the next day. He asked around, but of course, nobody wanted to tell Potter the cheater anything.

Hermione’s levels of anxiety were slowly rising since he told her what he found out, and come dinner time, Harry couldn’t take it anymore.

He looked around the Great Hall, first at the Hufflepuff table. Derek and Scott were nowhere to be seen. At the Ravenclaw table, Allison and Lydia were surrounded by a small army of other girls that made it impossible for Harry to reach them.

So he turned to the Slytherin table, where Stiles was eating alone in a corner, blindly shoving food into his mouth as he was reading what looked like a muggle book.

Hermione caught him looking. ‘Are you sure about this?’

Harry wasn’t really, of the whole alliance business, but he was sure he wanted to let Scott know. So he nodded.

Hermione sighed. ‘Does it have to be him, though?’

‘Just stay here’, Harry rolled his eyes, getting up from the table and heading towards Stiles.

‘Dragons’, he whispered, taking a seat at the Slytherin table, making sure to cover his mouth in case anyone looked their way.

Stiles blinked at him. ‘Nifflers.’

‘What?’, Harry frowned.

‘What?’, Stiles countered, ‘I thought we were saying random magical creatures.’

Harry rolled his eyes. ‘Dragons are the first task.’

Stiles paled, his eyes growing wide. ‘Fuck.’

He then turned to look at the hall. Everyone was staring at them.

‘Siding with the cheater, are you, Stilinski?’, Malfoy sneered from further down the Slytherin table. ‘And here I thought you already confessed your undying love to McCall.’

‘Shove it, Malfoy’, Stiles snapped without even looking at him. ‘You don’t even know what a friend _is_ , you just have mindless goons.’

It took a few seconds for Harry to realize that Stiles was looking at Allison and Lydia. They had a wordless conversation, and then Stiles turned to Harry.

‘After dinner tomorrow, the empty Charms classroom on the fourth floor.’

‘Will Scott be there?’, Harry couldn’t help but ask.

Stiles hesitated for a second, but he did nod. ‘Now scram, will you? I was reading!’

Again, Harry rolled his eyes, getting up from the table. But he checked out the book that Stiles was reading, a muggle anthology of Japanese myths and monsters.

Stiles was a very weird guy, Harry thought again. He knew better than to say that out loud to Hermione.

Ϟ

Once again, they were all there when Harry and Hermione made their way to the Charms classroom.

Stiles, Lydia and Allison had their noses buried in books and Scott and Derek were having a hushed conversation in a corner, that stopped when they saw Harry.

‘Are you freaking out?’, Scott asked, blinking rapidly. ‘Cause I’m freaking out.’

‘I’m not freaking out’, Harry frowned.

‘Really?’, Derek stared at him.

‘Of course not’, Harry nodded. ‘I stopped freaking out hours ago, now I’m just terrified.’

‘Oh good’, Stiles said, ‘You’re sarcastic, you’ll fit right in.’

Harry didn’t know what to say to that, but it was not expected of him.

‘Granger’, Stiles eyed her cautiously. ‘We’re researching spells that might help them against dragons.’

Hermione took a deep breath, but she nodded and sat down at a table with Stiles (a chair between them), and pulled out several books from her bag.

Relieved that it didn’t end in bloodshed, he turned to look at Scott and Derek.

‘What about us?’

‘You stay calm’, Derek said strongly. ‘They’ll find a way to help you defeat a dragon, but you need to make sure to keep your head in battle.’

Harry narrowed his eyes at the wording, but didn’t address it. And as he spent a couple of hours going through what seemed like some weird mental training with Derek, he didn’t mention the fact that he was well acquainted with battles, by now.

Ϟ

Two days before the first task, Harry burst into the Great Hall during dinner and all but growled in frustration when he saw that, from Scott’s group, only Stiles was there.

It didn’t stop him from running to his side, though.

‘Charms classroom’, he panted, ‘as soon as possible. Get everyone?’

Stiles, thankfully, didn’t ask questions. He just nodded and ran to the Hufflepuff basement, as Harry ran to get Hermione.

Ϟ

‘Moony gave me an idea’, Harry said when they were all gathered. ’The other contestants, they’re way more skilled and knowledgeable than we are.’

‘Hey’, Scott seemed affronted.

‘He’s right’, Stiles said easily. ‘If nothing else, they’re older, more OWLs under their belts.’

‘Right’, Harry went on. ‘They’re going to play on that, on all the spells and stuff that we don’t know yet. So we have to play on our strengths.’

‘Like what?’, Scott frowned.

‘I’m good at Quidditch. If I could get my broom to the field, then maybe I’d manage to out-fly the dragon.’

There was a long pause, broken eventually by Allison.

‘There is a spell that brings objects to you. My dad uses it, but he always does it silently, I don’t know it.’

‘ _Accio_ ’, Derek said, pointing his wand at the book Hermione was holding. Harry watched in fascination and relief as it flew out of her hands, straight to Derek’s.

‘You’re going to need to practice’, Derek told Harry. ‘I’ll help.’

‘But that doesn’t solve your problem’, Hermione said to Scott. ‘I mean, do you-‘

‘I’m pretty good on a broom.’

‘You’re not on the team’, Hermione frowned.

Scott rolled his eyes. ‘It’s not like we have any other ideas.’

Hermione kept biting on her lower lip, looking unsurely at Scott.

Stiles cleared his throat, and when Harry looked to him, he was surprised to see that Stiles was looking at Hermione.

‘What are you thinking?’

‘What? Nothing!’, Hermione answered quickly, too quickly.

Stiles wasn’t buying it either, because he sent her a look. ‘You’re still thinking about the rules.’

‘No’, Hermione sighed. ‘I checked the rules, and you were right, it never says it’s not allowed for two contestants to be allies.’

‘But?’, Stiles insisted.

Hermione looked at everyone but him for a while, so much so that Stiles stepped forward until he was right in front of her, forcing her to look at him.

‘But what, Granger?’

‘If they use the same spell’, she started talking quickly, ‘then people will know, won’t they? That they knew the task before they got there, and that they talked about it. Everybody will know that _accio_ is not a spell a 4th year should know, so they’ll figure out someone helped you, both of you and-‘

‘You’re right’, Stiles said, stunning Hermione into silence. ‘But is that a bad thing?’

She just blinked at him, before turning to look at Harry and Scott.

‘I don’t think they’ll disqualify you’, Hermione told them, ‘even if they figured out you knew the task beforehand. They don’t have any proof.’

‘So the only question’, Stiles picked up, ‘is if you two want everyone to know that you’re working together.’

Scott and Harry looked at each other.

Harry didn’t know what he thought of it, and it was clear that Scott didn’t either, there was a lot of hesitation in his eyes.

‘Boys, don’t be stupid’, Lydia said strongly. ‘It’s better if people know you’re allies. It shows not only school unity, but also the fact that you are a force to be reckoned with, even if you are years younger than the other contestants. Two wizards are better than one.’

Harry looked to Hermione. It took a few seconds, but he saw that she agreed with Lydia.

So he turned to Scott and extended a hand.

Scott didn’t hesitate in taking it, grinning all the while.

Ϟ

Harry was the last one to compete, of course he was. Everyone before him managed to defeat the dragon, so there was only a mountain of pressure on his shoulders.

He ran at first, completely forgetting about the plan, getting bruises on his skin and scorch marks on his robes.

And then he yelled.

‘ _ACCIO FIREBOLT_!’

Silence settled over the stadium, everyone except for the dragon.

‘Well that sounded familiar’, Fred Weasley said.

And that was the last thing Harry heard.

Ϟ

There was a party in the common room, and Harry was quickly thrown in the middle of it. He opened the egg, and promptly closed it just as quickly, sharing a wide eyed look with Hermione.

And then Harry forgot all about the egg, because Ron was talking to him, sort of apologizing.

Ϟ

After the Yule Ball was announced, Scott cornered Harry one morning, during breakfast.

‘So’, Scott said in a whisper. ‘I didn’t know you were seeing Hermione.’

Harry groaned. ‘Don’t trust everything you read in the Prophet. I’m not.’

He paused, before narrowing his eyes. ‘I didn’t know you were seeing Allison.’

Scott winced. ‘I’m not, if her dad asks. And considering he works with a lot of parents of people in school, we have to hide it.’

Harry considered. ‘That sucks, man.’

‘Yup’, Scott easily nodded. ‘So now I have to find a date to the ball, who’s not actually a date, but acts like one anyway.’

Harry said nothing.

‘So, is Hermione…’, Scott tried.

Harry quickly shook his head. ‘She has a date already, apparently.’

‘Of course she does’, Scott said, with feeling.

‘Have you tried asking Lydia?’, Harry suggested.

Scott just laughed for a long while, before saying a very heartfelt ‘When Hell freezes over.’

Lydia came to them, then.

‘You’, she pointed at Scott, ‘are taking Parvati Patil, Stiles is taking Padma Patil, you’, she pointed at Harry, ‘are taking Ginny Weasley, Ron is taking me and Derek is taking Allison.’

Scott sighed, relieved, grinning goofily afterwards. ‘I love you, Lydia.’

‘Of course you do’, she grinned, turning to leave.

Harry stopped her. ‘Uhm, Lydia. Have you, uh-‘

‘Yes, I already talked to the girls, you’re set to go.’

‘Oh’, Harry blinked. ‘Thank you. How do you even know Ginny?’

She smiled at him. It looked terrifying.

‘She’s smart, cute, strong from having grown up surrounded by brothers, and she’s in Harry Potter’s extended clique. Of course I know Ginny Weasley.’

‘Oh’, Harry blinked, not knowing what to say to that. ‘And are you sure you want to go with Ron?’

There was an evil glint in her eyes. ‘Yes, I’m sure. It’ll piss off Malfoy the most.’

‘Malfoy?’, Harry frowned.

‘He asked me.’, Lydia smiled innocently. ‘I said no. And then I debated which will anger him more, if I go with you, Stiles, or Ron.’

‘And Ron won?’, it was Scott that asked.

‘By a landslide’, Lydia nodded. ‘Malfoy hates Potter, yes, but it’s hate based off jealousy. He hates Stiles because of his blood status, but Ron’, her eyes glinted, ‘Ron and his family, they’re traitors in his eyes, aren’t they? Pure bloods who side with muggles. I think he hates Ron the most.’

‘And why do you hate him?’, Harry found himself asking, startling both Lydia and Scott, who shared a long look.

‘It’s a long story’, she said slowly.

‘It mostly has to do with Stiles’, Scott added and Harry didn’t really need to ask further. If Malfoy treated Hermione badly, he must be five times worse with Stiles.

‘Anyway’, Lydia shook herself, putting up an easy smile. ‘You boys are all set, but please, for the love of god, have Ginny or Hermione check you out before you get into the Grand Hall. I have a feeling neither of you know how to tie a bow.’

Harry and Scott both flinched at that, and followed it up with nodding and saying Hermione’s name.

Lydia seemed pleased, so she left with a flourish of hair, Scott went back to eating, but Harry couldn’t help but tell him.

‘You and your friends are really weird.’

‘Dude’, Scott snorted, ‘you don’t know the half of it.’

Ϟ

Ginny did look cute, which Harry made sure to tell her, but she had nothing on Hermione. And nothing was as impressive as Ron’s reaction to seeing Hermione walk in with Krum.

Harry remembers dancing that first waltz with Ginny, he remembers her demanding him to put a hand on her waist and he remembers laughing when he realized that she was the one leading him.

But he doesn’t remember much afterwards, just that by the end of the ball, he was sitting at a table, with Ron and Lydia to his right, Scott and Allison to his left, Derek and Stiles in front of him, Hermione popping in and out between dancing with Krum, just so she could pointedly ignore Ron.

Harry doesn’t remember what they all talked about, except for one thing.

At one point, Lydia demanded Ron dance with her. He looked anxious, but she mentioned that it will piss Malfoy off, and Ron was more than happy to help with that. Scott and Allison went away soon after, and Harry didn’t see them on the dance floor, figuring out they probably hid somewhere out of sight.

He was left with Derek and Stiles, who was quick to sit next to him and ask if he made any progress with the egg.

‘No’, Harry shook his head. ‘I didn’t.’

Stiles sighed. ‘Us neither, and trust me, we’ve tried everything.’

‘We’ll figure it out’, Derek said. ‘We still have time, and the brightest minds in school by our side.’

Stiles blushed a bit at that.

‘Lydia and Hermione’, Derek added, snorting when he saw the glare Stiles sent his way.

‘Plus’, he went on when he recovered, ‘it’s not an impossible to decipher clue. That’s not the point, from the organizer’s perspective. They want at least a couple of you to be able to figure it out.’

‘I don’t know’, Harry sighed. ‘I’ve tried thinking of everything, and the only thing I can think of that’s even remotely close to the screeching is a banshee.’

‘It sounds nothing like a banshee’, Stiles was quick to shake his head.

‘Have you… heard a lot of banshees, then?’, Harry asked, highly incredulous.

‘One or two’, came the easy answer.

Harry just stared, because somehow, he knew that Stiles wasn’t lying.

‘It’s worth a shot, though’, Stiles said next, moving to get up from his chair.

Derek stopped him, grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down into the chair.

‘Later’, he said with authority. ‘It can wait until tomorrow. Just because you’re not enjoying yourself’, he rolled his eyes, ‘doesn’t mean the rest of your friends aren’t allowed to it.’

Stiles scoffed. ‘Well you’re here sitting with me, you’re not enjoying yourself either.’

Derek just raised an eyebrow, to which Stiles scoffed, then snorted, then laughed and punched Derek’s shoulder, who didn’t seem mad for it, he even smiled, a little.

Harry was very confused, staring.

‘What?’, it was Stiles that noticed his staring.

‘Nothing’, he tried to lie, but it didn’t work. ‘It’s just that…’, Harry said slowly, ‘you’re a… really odd group of friends.’

‘Why?’, Stiles narrowed his eyes. ‘We’re not the only ones who have friends in other houses.’

‘It’s not just that’, Harry shook his head. ‘You just… seem like really different types of people, of personalities.’

Stiles and Derek shared a look.

‘We all knew each other before we came to Hogwarts’, Derek finally said . ‘We live in the same small town where everyone knows everyone.’

That explained it a little, Harry thought. Just a little.

‘We’re weird’, Stiles rolled his eyes. ‘We know, we don’t mind it.’

‘Normal’s overrated’, Harry couldn’t help but say, pointedly running his fingers over his scar.

It was probably the right thing to do, because Derek and Stiles shared a look, before Stiles grinned at Harry and even Derek smiled.

Ϟ

At dinner the next day, Stiles and Scott boldly sat down on either side of Harry’s.

‘No luck on the banshee angle’, Stiles seemed frustrated.

‘And we’re really running out of ideas.’, Scott added, more anxious than frustrated.

Stiles shoved half a sandwich in his mouth and angrily stood up.

‘I need a walk!’, he kind of yelled, stomping away.

He stopped after two steps.

‘Granger’, he didn’t turn around, ‘Come along, I need your brain.’

Hermione bristled at that, and Harry saw anger in her eyes.

But then Stiles turned his face half-around and said ‘please’, and Hermione was clearly shocked by it.

‘Two brains are better than one’, Scott said cheerily. ‘Just like two wizards are better than one, right?’

Hermione just looked at him for a while, unmoving. Ron started gathering her things and he gently pushed her away.

‘They’re not going to kill each other, are they?’, Harry couldn’t help but ask, looking at Hermione and Stiles leaving the Great Hall side by side.

Scott smiled softly at that, shocking both Harry and Ron.

‘What?’, Ron asked, a bit defensively.

‘He doesn’t hate her, if that’s what you’re thinking, not really. Stiles gets easily obsessed.’

‘What does that mean?’, Ron was clearly getting protective.

‘He was jealous, at first’, Scott snickered. ‘But he grew out of it eventually. Now, he just keeps saying that they’d be a great team, you know? They’re both ridiculously smart’, he shook his head, ‘and they’re both good people. I know Stiles doesn’t seem like it, but he’s kind and very protective of his friends.’

‘So is Hermione’, it wasn’t hard for Harry to admit.

‘Exactly’, Scott grinned. ‘I think they’d be pretty terrifying together.’

Harry agreed to it, but he also thought that they could be good friends. He didn’t understand why he thought that, he didn’t really know Stiles, even considering the time they’ve spent together recently. But he could see it, somewhat easily.

‘We’ll see’, Ron said a bit gruffly.

‘Don’t worry’, Scott snorted, ‘Stiles is not interested in Hermione in the way you think.’

‘What? No.’, Ron blushed. ‘I didn’t say anything.’

Harry rolled his eyes.

Ϟ

They didn’t see Hermione or Stiles for the rest of the evening, but she woke Harry up in the middle of the night.

‘Come on, grab the egg, let’s go, come on!’

Harry was half asleep, but he followed her to the Prefect’s bathroom, where everyone else was already waiting.

Scott was already in the bath, his pajama pants still on. Confused, Harry followed.

 

> _Come seek us where our voices sound_  
>  _We cannot sing about the ground_  
>  _An hour long you’ll have to look_  
>  _To recover what we took_

When they got back above the surface, Stiles and Hermione were both talking over one another.

‘It’s mermaids, isn’t it?’

‘Of course it’s mermaids, Stiles, but what about them?’

‘What did the egg tell you? Do you have to go into the lake?’

‘That’s obvious, Stiles, where else –‘

‘Stop!’ Scott said strongly.

‘Hermione figured it out’, Stiles awkwardly patted her shoulder.

She blushed. ‘It was Stiles’s idea, really, I just-‘

‘Great!’, Derek’s loud voice boomed. ‘Now, what did the egg tell you about the task?’

Scott took a deep breath and started talking.

Ϟ

If it wasn’t for Neville, they’d both be screwed. But Neville, bless his soul, managed to get enough gillyweed for Scott and Harry both.

But they were still anxious, even if neither of them admitted it. Hermione and Ron weren’t there, and neither was Stiles. Derek, Allison and Lydia went out looking for them, but they haven’t returned by the time the challenge started.

Harry and Scott shared a long look, before Scott grinned and raised his gillyweed.

‘Bottom’s up’.

With that, they both swallowed it, and under the water they went.

Ϟ

They didn’t stick together in the lake, figuring they’d cover more tracks separately. But they met at the spot where Hermione, Ron, Stiles and Fleur’s sister were floating motionless.

Even though they were the first to get there, they didn’t grab their friends and leave. Harry tried to go for Hermione, but the merpeople stopped him.

So Harry waited, and Scott did too.

When Krum arrived, he barely spared them a look, going straight for Hermione’s ropes and dragging her away.

Harry and Scott kept on waiting, but there was no sign of Fleur and the hour was almost up.

They looked at each other, and, surprisingly so, they didn’t even have to speak. Harry saw it in Scott’s eyes, the same thing that was probably reflected in his: the inability to just swim away.

So Scott started unknotting the ropes, making quick work on them. As he reached for Fleur’s sister, the merpeople were upon them.

Harry grabbed Ron with one hand and raised his wand with the other, making sure to keep the merepeople off their tails, as he swam with Ron to the surface, and as Scott swam with Stiles and the little girl.

The gillyweed wore off while they were a few feet under, but they managed to get to the surface.

They managed to save their friends and Fleur’s sister, they managed to breathe in air, and they were greeted by applauses and yells, by their friends fussing over them, and by warm towels. Harry was really grateful for the warm towels.

When Dumbledore announced that both Harry and Scott won second place, the two boys didn’t hesitate in sharing a strong, relieved hug.

Ϟ

That’s when people realized they were working together.

‘It’s stupid’, Stiles said, ‘I mean, it was obvious from the start, really now!’

‘But it wasn’t the logical thing to do’, Hermione argued, ‘that’s why people refused to see it. They only see the easiest things.’

‘What, like you double teaming Harry and Krum?’, Stiles was clearly teasing.

Hermione gasped in mock offence, and started running after Stiles around the courtyard.

‘They’re getting chummy’, Ron observed.

‘Stiles is chummy with everyone’, Derek said without a second thought.

‘No’, Scott snorted, ‘Stiles is chummy with the people he cares for. Congratulations’, he turned to Harry and Ron. ‘It appears you’re on that list now.’

‘But why?’, Ron asked, taking the words out of Harry’s mouth.

‘No idea’, Scott grinned.

‘You’ll figure it out eventually’, Derek said with the sort of confidence he displayed at odd moments.

‘You’re all very weird’, Harry couldn’t help but say.

Scott grinned wildly at that, and Derek rolled his eyes.

‘Says _The Boy Who Lived_.’

‘He’s got a point’, Ron nodded at that, and he wanted to say more, but he was interrupted by Lydia taking a seat on the bench next to him.

She immediately started talking to him about cleaning spells, of all things, and Harry watched in morbid fascination as Ron did not once get flustered, even as the conversation easily flowed into one of Divination and Potions.

And then Stiles and Hermione came back, talking about what sounded like Greek mythology and Harry couldn’t help but think of how weird these people were, and how much he liked them.

Ϟ

Stiles cornered him after Potions, one day. Hermione and Ron were there too, but Scott wasn’t.

‘Crouch dying’, Stiles whispered to him with a harsh look in his eyes, ‘and Karkaroff getting chummy with Snape… It’s Voldermort, isn’t it?’

Harry froze. ‘How do you know about Karkaroff?’

‘I have my ways’, Stiles waved a hand, impatiently. ‘But I’m right, aren’t I?’

Harry didn’t say anything, still debating his answer. Surprisingly, Hermione took the choice out of his hands.

‘We can’t be sure but… if Voldermort is out there, there’s no way he won’t try to kill Harry again.’

Stiles cursed under his breath, a long string of creative muggle and wizard curses that would have made Mrs. Weasley wash his mouth with soap.

‘Is there anything else Scott should know?’, Stiles asked slowly, staring into Harry’s eyes.

In that moment, Harry understood what Scott told him. That Stiles is kind, yes, but he’s protective of his friends. And at that moment, Harry also understood why Stiles was sorted into Slytherin.

‘No’, he finally said. ‘Nothing else.’

Stiles left with a nod and without saying another word.

‘You lied’, Hermione said in a whisper.

‘Yeah’, Harry nodded. ‘It’s not that I don’t trust them, it’s that I don’t want to make them panic more than they are already.’

Hermione sighed, deeply. ‘I don’t like this.’

‘Me neither’, Harry looked to her. ‘But what can I do?’

She had no answer to that, and neither did Ron. Nothing else was said as they made their way to the next class.

Ϟ

The night before the final task, they waited until everyone was asleep and met in front of the Great Hall.

‘What are we doing?’, Hermione asked, anxiously wringing her fingers. ‘They increased the number of patrols since the Tournament started.’

‘Okay, be quiet’, Stiles said with authority. ‘And follow me.’

They all followed him as silently as they could, and Harry was the first one to figure it out.

‘Are we going to the dungeons?’

Stiles turned to look at him with narrowed eyes. ‘How do you know where the dungeons are?’

Damn. ‘Uhm’, Harry blinked. ‘You don’t wanna know.’

Stiles took that as it was and went on. When he said the password to the portrait, it didn’t look like it wanted to let them in. But it didn’t have a choice, so they all went in the Slytherin common room.

Hermione, having not been there before, was looking a little overwhelmed. So were Allison and Lydia. Scott and Derek were as unsurprised as Harry and Ron were, which made them all start laughing.

‘What if someone comes down?’, Hermione asked, anxiousness clear.

Stiles grinned at her. ‘Nobody ever comes down during the night, because the older years always set up pranks. We’re good here, promise.’

Hermione still looked apprehensive, but she nodded once in Stiles’s direction before grabbing a pillow and sitting down on the floor, leaning her back against Harry’s legs. Soon, everyone else was settled and talking in groups, and that is how Harry spent the night before the last task.

With his old friends, with his new friends, in the Slytherin common room.

In the morning, they got woken up by Snape, who was furious. But, surprisingly so, he didn’t punish them.

‘The teacher block is very impressed with the two of you, Potter, McCall. Nobody expected you to work together.’

Harry and Scott shared a grin, as Snape rounded up on Stiles, anger turning to frustration.

‘Why do you insist of making everyone in your house despise you, Mr. Stilinski?’

Stiles shrugged, looking with defiance at Snape. ‘I don’t insist on anything, Professor, I just don’t really care about any of them.’

Snape narrowed his eyes. ‘Not one?’

Stiles pointedly looked to Scott. Then to Derek, Allison and Lydia. Then to Harry and Ron. Then he took a step to the side, and leaned his elbow on Hermione’s shoulder, very casually and unconcerned.

‘Not one’, Stiles said strongly, making something ugly flash in Snape’s eyes.

‘Get out of here’, he said quickly. ‘You have a task to prepare for.’

They all left, except for Stiles, who cheekily waved them off and said he’d meet them for breakfast.

Harry had a lot of questions, about Stiles and Snape, but he knew it was not the time to ask them.

Ϟ

Harry was very happy that Mrs. Weasley was the one who got called instead of the Dursley’s. But he still cast a look towards Scott.

He was being hugged tightly by a soft looking woman, who had tears in her eyes and who kept talking in his ear, as Scott all but buried his face into her curly hair.

But when her mother let him go, Scott’s entire demeanor changed when a man, probably his father, came forth. They didn’t hug. The man clapped him on the shoulder twice, said something quickly, which Scott ignored. Then the man boldly grabbed a hold of Scott’s chin, lifting it up somewhat forcefully.

They glared at each other, and the man said something that looked like “Don’t embarrass me”. Scott nodded once, distance clear, and sighed in relief when his father left. He got a kiss on the forehead from his mother, and that seemed to calm Scott down, because he smiled, albeit shakily, at her.

‘I wonder what that was about’, Hermione whispered in Harry’s ear.

He wondered too, but it wasn’t his business and he had other things to worry about. 

Ϟ

This time, Scott and Harry stuck together from the beginning. Everyone seemed to think it was the best idea.

‘I know it’s gonna be weird when you actually get to the cup’, Stiles said quickly, ‘and you’re gonna have to find a way to actually determine a winner, but until then-‘

‘We stick together’, Scott nodded.

‘We stick together’, Harry agreed.

And in the maze they went.

Ϟ

Harry got Scott out of the vines. Scott told him to grab the cup. Harry said they’d do it together.

Then they were in a graveyard that looked familiar.

‘Where are we?’, Scott asked, looking around.

Harry read the name on the gravestone and he told Scott that they had to run.

And then Wormtail was there, Harry’s scar hurt, and Voldermort ordered his servant to kill the spare.

As Wormtail raised his wand, Harry heard a growl. For a second, he thought that Lupin was there.

But when he turned around, it wasn’t Lupin growling, it was Scott. He had fangs, his eyes were glowing red and the fingers that were wrapped around his wand had claws.

‘No’, Voldermort breathed out. ‘Don’t kill the wolf. Not yet.’

Scott growled again, and tried to disarm Warmtail, but he wasn’t successful, and before he knew what was happening, Harry was trapped by Riddle’s statue and Scott was on the ground, chains and ropes around his arms and legs, clearly in pain.

Harry’s scar hurt like never before.

Ϟ

Everything happened very fast and the pain in his forehead was too great, he couldn’t focus properly.

Harry remembered Voldermort forming a body. He remembered the Death Eaters, familiar names.

Lucius. Malfoy. He clearly remembered Malfoy.

He remembered lashing out when Voldermort called Scott handsome, for a dirty hybrid.

Then, the pain. When Voldermort touched the scar, the most incredible, impossible pain.

And when he was released, when he was expected to fight with Voldermort, Harry tried to set Scott free.

He was unsuccessful, and the pain grew greater with Voldermort’s yell of _Crucio_.

‘Fight him’, Scott growled. ‘Harry, I’m fine. Fight him.’

Scott’s words gave Harry strength. They were both in pain, that was clear, but Scott was holding his head high and he was willing to fight.

So that’s what Harry did. He fought Voldermort with every last drop of strength he had in him, with his mother and father’s voices in his ear.

He then ran to Scott’s side, grabbed his clawed hand and _Accio_ ’d the Portkey, getting them both away from there, from Voldermort and the Death Eaters.

They landed in a heap on the ground, right out of the maze. Scott’s eyes weren’t red anymore, and his claws weren’t out anymore, but the ropes and chains were still around him.

Everyone was applauding. And then Allison screamed Scott’s name, and then Stiles was there, staring with wide eyes at the ropes.

‘Wolfsbane?’, he whispered.

‘Take them off’, Scott growled, his eyes flashing red for a second before he closed them tightly.

Stiles pulled out his wand and released Scott just as Dumbledore and the Ministry officials got to their side.

‘Harry’, the Headmaster said urgently, ‘what happened?’

‘He’s back’, Harry breathed out. ‘Voldermort, he’s back.’

‘Nonsense, boy’, someone from the Ministry said. ‘That’s just the effect the maze had on you-‘

‘I saw him too’, Scott said. ‘And you know nothing in that maze would have worked on me. He-Voldermort is back.’

Dumbledore kept staring at Harry. Everyone else was staring at Scott.

‘Headmaster’, Stiles turned to Dumbledore, speaking strongly. ‘We’re taking our friends to the infirmary, please make sure nobody unauthorized by you is allowed inside.’

And then there were arms wrapped around Harry, Hermione and Ron’s, and they were pulling him out and away from all the chaos.

And then there was another set of arms, stronger and larger, and Moody’s loud voice booming over everyone.

Harry allowed himself a second to cry.

Ϟ

He was sure that he was going to die. Moody was going to kill him, finish off what Voldermort started. Harry was going to die, in Hogwarts, all alone and-

Stiles barged in, rage in his eyes. He quickly disarmed Moody, who was too surprised to defend himself. Stiles pushed the old man into a chair just as Dumbledore came into the room, with Snape and McGonagall.

Dumbledore made Moody drink something, and started asking questions. Harry realized it was Veritaserum just as they discovered the trunk that held the real Alastor Moody.

‘Well, Mr. Stilinski’, Snape said slowly, ‘it appears that you were correct.’

‘I’m always correct’, Stiles didn’t even look at the teacher, his eyes trained on the fake Moony, ‘it’s just that nobody ever listens.’

‘If that’s Moody’, Harry said, ‘then who’s-‘

When the Polyjuice potion wore off, it was Stiles that recognized him first.

‘Barty Crouch Jr.’

Harry stared at him, in awe. How did Stiles know all these things?

And then he couldn’t look at Stiles anymore, Dumbledore dragging both of them away from the room.

Ϟ

They won the Tournament, but neither Scott nor Harry were glad for it. Not when Voldermort was back.

And not when Krum had been killed inside the maze, by a trap put there by Crouch Jr.

When the Great Hall’s ceiling was just that, a boring ceiling, when all the house banners were black and when people were mourning for a boy who would have done so much with his life, Harry didn’t sit where he was supposed to.

Instead, he stood at the back of the hall, with his arms around a crying Hermione and Ron by her other side. With Scott and Stiles, Derek. Allison, Lydia and Ginny. With Fleur and her little sister.

No words were exchanged.

Ϟ

On the train ride back to London, Harry, Hermione and Ron found an empty compartment. They were all silent, and Harry knew they were waiting for him to start talking, to explain to them what happened since he stepped into the maze, because he hasn’t done it yet. He hadn’t managed to find the strength needed yet.

Just as he thought he was ready to start, Scott and Stiles came in. They said nothing as they sat down, leaving the compartment door open behind them. Derek came in next, then Lydia and then Allison, who gently closed the door behind her.

‘So’, Stiles said.

‘I’m a werewolf’, Scott said next.

‘As am I’, Derek nodded.

‘Banshee’, Lydia added evenly.

‘Werewolf hunter, theoretically’, Allison smiled.

Harry said nothing, as Hermione and Ron stared in shock at the other group.

‘What about you?’, Hermione finally asked Stiles, who smirked at her.

‘Just human, promise.’

‘Does Lupin know?’, Harry asked, the idea suddenly coming to him.

‘Yes’, Derek nodded. ‘So do the teachers and the Ministry. It’s the law.’

‘Now that that’s all in the open’, Stiles said, clapping his hands, turning to Harry. ‘How about you tell us everything that _really_ happened since you came to school?’

Harry shared a few looks with Hermione and Ron, but he knew that, in the end, the final decision was his.

‘Why do you want to know?’, he asked Scott, finally realizing that Scott was their leader, somehow.

‘Because my pack is known for being unable to walk away from someone in need of help. And you, Harry, need all the help you can get.’

Harry looked away. Then he took a deep breath and started talking.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles shows up on Pivet Drive and takes Harry on a Beacon Hills getaway.

When there was a knock on the door of 4th Pivet Drive, on a bright Thursday summer morning, Harry thought nothing of it. He continued eating his breakfast in silence, as he usually did, as Aunt Petunia made her way angrily to the front door, mumbling about rude people disrupting her morning routine.

‘May I help you?’, she asked briskly after she opened the door.

‘Good morning, Mrs. Dursley’, a cheery voice said. Harry recognized it. ‘I’m here to pick up Harry.’

He ignored Uncle Vernon’s yells as he ran to the door, staring at Stiles with wide eyes.

Stiles looked weird without his robes on. He had on a pair of skinny jeans, a Star Wars tshirt and a plaid shirt over it.

‘Harry, dude’, he grinned. ‘You ready?’

‘What? Where- huh?’

Stiles snorted. ‘You forgot, didn’t you? The camping trip? That my dad’s taking us on?’

‘What camping trip?’, Uncle Vernon came into the hall. ‘Who are you?’

‘Stiles Stilinski, sir, nice to meet you’, Stiles nodded at the older man. ‘I’m a friend of Harry’s from school.’

‘No’, Vernon was suddenly livid. ‘Absolutely not.’

‘Yes’, Stiles frowned, ‘I am.’

‘I’m not letting him go with you, with _your people_.’

Stiles frowned some more. ‘My people? Cop kids?’

‘What?’, Vernon frowned.

‘My dad’s a Sheriff. He’s gonna take us camping for the long weekend. If you wanna talk to him, he’s right outside.’

Stiles stepped aside and a car came into view, a light blue jeep that has seen better days and had the steering wheel on the wrong side.

‘Is he…’, Vernon hesitated.

Stiles raised an eyebrow. ‘A Sheriff, yes. Don’t worry, Harry will be in good hands.’

The older man opened his mouth, but didn’t manage to say anything. It made Stiles push on.

Literally, he gently pushed Aunt Petunia to the side and stepped inside the house, closing the door behind him.

‘I’ll help you pack’, he told Harry. ‘Lead the way.’

When neither Uncle Vernon nor Aunt Petunia said anything, Harry all but ran up the stairs, Stiles hot on his heels.

‘I’m so glad that worked’, Stiles said around a chuckle, once the door to the room was shut behind them.

‘I can’t believe that worked’, Harry countered. ‘But what are we doing?’

‘Not going camping’, Stiles winked. ‘You’re gonna stay with me for a couple of days, so start packing.’

Harry did so, but he still asked. ‘Why am I staying with you for a couple of days?’

Stiles hesitated for a second. ‘We figured out we haven’t really been fair to you.’

‘We?’, Harry frowned.

‘Derek figured it out. Scott agreed.’

‘Why haven’t you been fair?’

‘You told us your story’, Stiles said in an oddly soft tone. ‘We wanna tell you ours.’

‘Right’, Harry said, still frowning.

He couldn’t really think about it properly, he was too excited to be out of the Dursley’s house.

Stiles didn’t say anything else, he just snooped around the room, clearly unimpressed with everything. When Harry was done packing clothes into a backpack, Stiles wordlessly let Hedwig out of her cage before marching back downstairs, purposely making as much noise as possible.

It was in that moment that Harry decided that Stiles was just the type of asshole he enjoyed.

Ϟ

Stiles’ father was a strong looking man (maybe Harry just thought that because he knew he was a Sheriff), with wrinkles around the blue eyes that didn’t match his son’s.

‘Nice to meet you, Harry’, the man said. ‘Buckle up.’

Harry did as asked. He must have still looked confused, because the man sighed before glaring at Stiles, who got into the passenger seat.

‘You didn’t tell him yet, did you?’

‘Nope’, came the easy response.

‘Tell me what?’, Harry couldn’t keep the apprehension from his voice.

‘Where should I start?’, Stiles asked his dad, who rolled his eyes.

‘Start with me.’

‘Right’, Stiles nodded, turning around in the seat so he could look at Scott. ‘Long story short, though. After I got into Hogwarts, Dumbledore and Mrs. Hale got dad a job at the Ministry.’

‘I thought you were a muggle’, Harry said before he could stop himself.

‘I am, we are’, Stiles nodded. ‘Dad _actually_ is a Sheriff in our town, but some of the townsfolk are wizards and various creatures.’

‘Don’t ever use that word in front of a Hale’, Mr. Stilinski said.

‘Right’, Stiles nodded. ‘So dad works in the local Police Station, but he also works for the Ministry of Magic. So he was able to get a hold of Mr. Weasley.’

Harry frowned even more, then.

‘Ron’s coming too, d’uh’, Stiles went on. ‘He’s gonna stay with us, and Hermione’s gonna stay with Lydia.’

Harry opened his mouth, but Stiles cut him off.

‘I know you’re pissed because they haven’t written to you all summer, but it’s what Dumbledore asked them to do.’

‘How do you know that?’, the Sheriff said quickly. ‘You’re not supposed to know that.’

Stiles didn’t answer, just threw his dad a look.

‘You know a lot of things you’re not supposed to’, Harry found himself saying, just as the Sheriff sighed.

‘I have my ways’, Stiles said cryptically, before grinning proudly. ‘So don’t be too mad at your friends, okay? It wasn’t what they wanted to do.’

Harry nodded, feeling his anger seeping out, but then a thought hit him.

‘How did you get a hold of Hermione?’

‘I e-mailed her’, Stiles was looking at Harry as if he was stupid. Which, granted, it sure looked like that at the moment.

‘Okay, what else do you need to know?’, the boy went on. ‘Uh, Allison’s in France, visiting relatives, she does this every summer. So Scott’s depressed, of course, so he’s always picking up extra shifts at the vet’s office he works at, you know, so that he doesn’t have to think about how much he misses Allison.’

Harry pulled a face, in sync with Stiles.

‘Young love’s adorable’, the Sheriff chuckled, making Stiles glare at him.

‘What else?’, he went on. ‘Scott’s mom is a nurse at the muggle hospital, Lydia’s mom is a teacher at the muggle high school, Allison’s dad is an artifact dealer, gets to work often with Mr. Weasley. And Derek’s parents, well…’

It was the first time Stiles hesitated.

‘Are they all werewolves?’, Harry asked in an almost whisper.

Stiles nodded, but it was the Sheriff that spoke.

‘You don’t have to be afraid of them, son. They really aren’t dangerous, the Hales. I’m sure that once you meet them, you’ll come to the same conclusion.’

‘They’re cool, too’, Stiles said. ‘Very cool. Derek has two sisters, his mom is pretty high up in the Ministry, in Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and his dad has a bookstore in town, mostly wizarding books, but he has some muggle stuff too, for fun.’

Harry just kept on nodding. ‘And uh, where are we going? You never said what town you’re from.’

The Sheriff facepalmed, as Stiles actually blushed.

‘Sorry, dude. Beacon Hills. It’s called Beacon Hills and it’s still a few hours away, if you wanna nap.’

Harry did want to nap. He had been up very late last night, because at night was the only time he was able to look over his school books.

But, before he closed his eyes, he had to address the feeling in his chest. The immense gratitude he felt towards Stiles and his father, the same thing he felt the first time he stepped into the Burrow.

‘Thank you’, he went as far as putting a hand on the Sheriff’s shoulder. He said nothing else, but he did lock eyes with the older man in the mirror.

‘It’s my pleasure, Harry’, he said kindly. ‘Trust me, if it were up to me, you’d never have to go back into that house again.’

‘Dad didn’t want to go in because he was sure he was gonna punch your uncle’, Stiles said around a smirk. His dad didn’t deny it.

‘Would’ve been nice’, Harry grinned, making Stiles grin back at him and the Sheriff snort.

Surprisingly quick, Harry fell asleep, with his head at an odd angle in the backseat of the jeep, but still feeling excited about being out of the Dursley’s house and out for what felt a little like an adventure.

Ϟ

Harry woke up to Stiles gently shaking him, announcing their arrival to Beacon Hills.

Surprised that he actually slept through the entire drive, and still groggy from sleeping so long, Harry got out of the car and refused the Sheriff’s help at carrying his backpack.

The Stilinski’s didn’t live in a big house, but it looked to be well cared for and it had a little bit of a green garden around it. There was a car in the drive way, a large SUV that had BEACON HILLS SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT written in big letters on the side, and what was clearly Stiles’s bike left lying abandoned on the grass.

‘You’re gonna have to share a guestroom with Ron’, Stiles said upon entering the house, ‘but the blowup mattress is comfortable, I promise, Scott’s been using it for years.’

‘No problem’, Harry easily said. ‘When is Ron getting here?’

‘Right about now’, the Sheriff said, heading towards the living room. ‘Arthur hooked our fireplace to the network, temporarily.’

‘I’m surprised how easily he got a hang of the magic thing’, Stiles whispered to Harry, tilting his head towards his dad. ‘He only freaked out once, when I told him about the dragons at the Tournament. But come on, dragons!, everyone was freaking out.’

Harry was snickering when there was a bang from the living room, followed closely by Mr. Weasley’s voice.

‘Noah, so good to see you!’

Harry didn’t wait for an invitation, all but running to the living room.

Ron was looking sheepish. ‘You can hit me, if you like. I know you’re mad I didn’t write. I’m really sorry, mate, I wanted to, but-‘

He was cut off by Harry hugging him. He felt Ron deflate in his arms and hug him back.

‘Awh, young love’, Stiles teased.

‘Shut up’, Harry and Ron said at the same time, hesitating for a few seconds more before detaching themselves.

‘You and Scott are worse’, the Sheriff pointed out, making Harry turn to him and Mr. Weasley.

He hesitated for a second, but he went and hugged Mr. Weasley too. It surprised the older man, clearly, but it didn’t deter him from hugging back.

Harry was never this emotional, not really. Not with Ron, not with his father, and definitely not in front of other people. But he felt _giddy_. He was out of the house he hated, away from the family that hated him, and he was surrounded by people who were on his side.

There was no doubt in Harry’s mind that these people believed he had seen Voldermort come back to life in the cemetery. The Sheriff believed Scott, and Mr. Weasley believe Harry.

And their school colleagues from Beacon Hills, they believed them too. While he cared for Hermione and Ron a lot more than about everyone else, it had been just the three of them since the beginning, Harry was giddy because it looked like Scott and his pack were planning on joining them for the long-haul.

‘Hermione’s gonna be a couple of more hours’, Stiles’s voice brought Harry out of his thoughts. ‘Just in time for dinner, which we’ll all be having here, which you’re gonna help me cook.’

‘You can cook?’, Ron was surprised.

‘Well I can make fries and grill a steak. It’ll do.’

‘We’ll help’, Harry said easily.

‘Are you sure you can’t stay, Arthur?’, the Sheriff asked the other man, who was quick to shake his head.

‘No, sorry, Noah, I’m in the middle of a quite important project. Thank you for the invitation, though. And thank you for housing Ron. I’d like to promise he won’t be much trouble, but-‘

‘Daaaad’, Ron whined.

The Sheriff laughed. ‘Oh, I’m used to trouble’, he slapped the back of Stiles’s neck, who didn’t even deny it, just nodded in agreement.

Mr. Weasley was off soon after, the Sheriff said he had to go to the station, so Harry and Ron followed Stiles into the kitchen.

Ϟ

Scott was the first one to arrive, on his bike after a shift at the vet’s office, and he headed straight to the fridge, drinking a bottle of soda before turning to Harry and Ron, shaking their hands.

He looked giddy, just as giddy as Harry still felt.

Next were the girls, who were dropped off by Lydia’s mother. They were both wearing jeans shorts and casual t-shirts, their hair braided and lips shiny. While Ron was busy gaping wordlessly at them, Harry looked at Hermione and saw the same giddiness in her eyes. It made him grin.

Derek was the last to arrive, driven by someone in a very sleek looking black car. He didn’t seem as giddy as everyone else, but he did shake Harry and Ron’s hands, and he did smile kindly at Hermione, whispering to her that she did look lovely, but she shouldn’t do everything Lydia tells her to.

Dinner was fun. They got their plates filled to the brim and took them to the living room, everyone finding a cozy place because of the high amount of throw pillows the Stilinski men had. The conversation flew easily, about school, mostly, easy topics, fun things.

But when the food was done, after they put the dishes into the washer, Scott took a seat on an armchair that gave him a vantage point to everyone, and he looked briefly to Harry, Ron and Hermione, before he sharing a meaningful look with Derek and Stiles.

‘It’s a long story.’, Scott started by saying.

And he went on for a long time. An incredible story, about werewolves and learning anchors. About venomous lizards and dark druids, about banshees and magical trees, about werewolf hunters, rituals and true alphas.

About a pack that came together because it needed to, about a powerful true alpha that refused to be part of the family pack ruled by one of the most powerful wolves in all of England, just because he didn’t think it was right to impose himself into a family.

A story about how the Hales have always helped Scott and his misfit pack, about how Derek may not be in Scott’s pack, but he’s always by his side. About how Stiles might be human, but how he’s Scott’s second in command, if their pack actually stuck to the hierarchy rules.

About how Talia Hale didn’t hesitate in believing in Voldermort’s return, and about how she is willing to help the fight against him.

‘I’m sure you have questions’, Stiles was looking at Hermione after Scott was done.

‘A lot’, Hermione breathed out, making Ron snort.

‘You said Lupin knows’, Harry cut her off. ‘But you’re… different.’

‘Lupin is not supposed to be as he is.’, Derek started, slowly. ‘He’s a wolf without a pack and he has never had anybody teach him control.’

‘So you can shift at will? It isn’t influenced by the full moon?’, Hermione’s eyes were wide.

‘We can learn how to control it’, Derek said strongly. ‘Yes, we can shift at will. It’s … difficult to stay human under the full moon, but not impossible.’

‘So he could learn’, Harry blinked.

‘We’ve been trying to convince him to let my mother teach him’, Derek sighed. ‘But he’s not… a trustful man.’

Harry nodded, fully intending on having a proper conversation with Lupin about it.

‘How do you know so much?’, Hermione asked Stiles.

‘About what?’, he blinked innocently, aggravating her slightly.

‘You knew Voldermort was going to come back before he did, you knew who Barty Crouch Jr was, Dumbledore told us you didn’t trust Moody from the start… How do you always know so much?’

‘I’m clever’, Stiles answered, easily.

‘So am I’, Hermione countered. ‘But this is not just being clever.’

Stiles seemed to consider it, but it was Scott that answered.

‘He steals his dad’s files.’

‘Sometimes, they’re useful’, Stiles nodded. ‘Sometimes, they’re not.’

‘He also has a highly analytic mind’, Derek said, ‘and a proclivity for investigating into everything and anything that gets his attention.’

Hermione huffed, annoyed, but didn’t say anything else.

‘You don’t look convinced’, Stiles said to Harry, because it was true.

He was biting on his lower lip, his brain quickly going through everything he heard tonight and everything he heard while spending time with them in the past year. And he wasn’t really convinced.

‘I’m convinced you want to … join the fight against Voldermort.’, he started, slowly. ‘But I’m not convinced you know what that means, and I’m not convinced you’re doing it for the right reasons.’

‘My parents are in the Order’, Derek said evenly.

‘Dad too’, Stiles piped up.

‘What’s the Order?’, Harry frowned.

‘Aaaand now’s your turn to explain’, Stiles mentioned to Hermione and Ron.

She was the one who started talking. ‘The Order of the Phoenix is a secret society founded by Dumbledore, who fought He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in the first war.’

‘My parents are members’, Ron said. ‘Yours were too. The Hales, the Longbottoms. Lupin, Sirius. Snape.’

Harry’s jaw dropped. ‘Snape?’

‘I’m just as confused by it as you are, mate’, Ron shook his head.

‘The story is that he switched sides’, Stiles said. ‘At one point, towards the end of the first war, he joined the Order and helped them defeat Voldermort.’

‘I find that very hard to believe’, Harry snapped.

‘So do I’, Stiles clicked his tongue.

‘So that’s why you…’, Harry tilted his head. ‘Don’t get along with him.’

Stiles’s eyes snapped to Harry. ‘It’s a bit more than that.’

‘That has nothing to do with it, actually’, Lydia said with confidence, ignoring the way Stiles glared at her.

‘You’re a Slytherin’, Hermione said slowly. ‘He’s your house head. He’s supposed to care for you and help you and-‘

‘He does’, Stiles tiredly said. ‘He does, even if I have asked him, repeatedly, to stop.’

‘Explain’, Harry said, trying his best not to sound ordering.

‘The head of a house is supposed to identify the… more special students in their house, the ones who have the best chance of making it, let’s say, of becoming someone important, and they’re supposed to guide them along. Like McGonagall made you join Quidditch in first year’, he pointed at Harry, ‘or how she gave you a time-turner in third year’, he pointed at Hermione, clearly shocking her that he had the information.

‘Snape did that with me, he keeps on doing it, actually. He thinks I have the potential of becoming someone very high up in the Ministry and he thinks that I’m going to need connections in order to achieve that. And that I should make these connections at school, especially with the other Slytherins.’

‘Which you’re not doing’, Hermione pointed out.

Stiles shook his head. ‘Everyone hates the muggle that tainted their house. I’m never going to put energy into convincing them otherwise.’

‘But do you want to be the Minister of Magic?’, Hermione exclaimed, somewhat bewildered.

‘Noooo’, Stiles said, with feeling. ‘An Auror, maybe.’, he tilted his head. ‘Don’t need much connections for that, though.’

‘Anyway’, Scott said pointedly, ‘we didn’t answer your question, Harry. Why are we doing this?’

‘Because’, Lydia took over with a sharp tone. ‘There’s no doubt in our mind that there’s a second war against Him coming. And we’re all going to be unprepared. But, if we go in it together…’

‘We have a shot.’, Derek finished, with certainty in his voice.

‘Plus, you’re cool’, Scott added, making everyone turn to look at him. He kept on grinning, unperturbed.

‘Nobody has ever called me that’, Hermione said around a smile.

‘To be fair’, Stiles said, ‘I’m pretty sure nobody ever arranged for a whole weekend vacation in another town, just so you can be part of a game of _be my friend_.’

‘True’, Hermione nodded, finally relaxing in her seat on the couch, taking her shoes off and crossing her ankles on the coffee table. ‘I don’t mind it.’

Everyone laughed at that.

Ϟ

After everyone left, Stiles, Harry and Ron set camp in the living room and introduced Ron to the wonderful world of video games. They only went to bed at 3AM, when the Sheriff came home and angrily told them to get some goddamn sleep.

So the next morning, they woke up more close to noon, and they rushed with showers and getting dressed, forgoing breakfast because they were going to lunch at the Hale house.

The Sheriff drove them in the big station SUV, saying that he was just going to drop them off, he had to go back to work. It wasn’t an incredibly long drive, but they followed a the signs to the Beacon Hills Preserve, going into the forest on a barely-there road.

But soon enough, they stopped in front of a gigantic house. It was gorgeous, Harry thought, and not just because of where it was placed.

Stiles acted like he owned the place, jumping out of the car with a rushed farewell to his dad. He didn’t go and knock on the door, though, he just yelled ‘We’re here’.

Harry and Ron shared a very confused look, as Stiles kept on grinning, squinting towards a certain part of the forest.

‘Yup’, Stiles snorted, ‘here comes Mrs. Hale.’

When Harry turned around, he didn’t see anyone who could be Derek’s mother. Instead, he saw a wolf.

A very large wolf, with beautiful silver fur and glowing red eyes. Harry and Ron took a step back, as the wolf ran towards them, stopping just a few feet away.

‘And here comes the nakedness’, Stiles snorted, turning his back to the wolf.

Harry and Ron weren’t as fast as him, so they did see a bit of the nakedness, as the wolf transformed into a woman.

‘Mom’, Derek ran out of the house, holding a fluffy robe in his hands, ‘why do you insist of embarrassing me in front of my friends? It’s getting old.’

‘Did she do it with Hermione, as well?’, Stiles asked.

‘Yes’, Derek sounded angry. ‘She was too shocked to turn away and then asked about a billion questions, starting with whether it hurt and ending with _but what happens to your bones and muscles_?’

For some reason, Stiles found that hilarious.

‘You can turn around now’, a female voice said, and when Harry turned, his first thought was that Derek must look like his father.

The only resemblances he saw were the dark color of hair and the high cheekbones, but seeing them both, standing side by side, Harry saw more similarities, especially in the way they held themselves. Back straight, head held high.

There was no doubt in his mind that Mrs. Hale was a very powerful woman, even without the power of an alpha.

‘It’s very nice to meet you, boys.’, she said kindly, snapping Harry into action.

He elbowed Ron in the stomach.

‘It’s nice to meet you too, ma’am.’

‘Thank you for having us’, Ron nodded quickly.

‘So polite’, the woman smiled. ‘My daughters could learn from you.’

Her eyes turned to the house then, as Derek’s head snapped towards it. Then both of the Hales rolled their eyes.

‘Werewolf hearing’, Stiles explained upon seeing Harry and Ron’s confused looks. ‘They can hear from miles away. It’s how Scott knew you were telling the truth, that first night at the tournament.’

Harry frowned, not understanding. But Ron did.

‘They can hear our heartbeat?’

‘Yes we can’, Mrs. Hale smiled at him. ‘It’s curious, you weren’t afraid of me. People usually are.’

Ron shuffled his feet, embarrassed. ‘My parents always speak very highly of you and your family, Mrs. Hale. I don’t think it’s possible for me to be scared of you.’

Derek seemed a bit confused by that, but his mother seemed pleased. She turned her head towards Harry, clearly waiting for an explanation.

He didn’t have one.

‘He’s the Chosen One, Mrs. Hale’, Stiles said with a flourish. ‘Not much scares him, by this point.’

Harry rolled his eyes. ‘I think it’s more like I’m terrified all the time now, it’s hard to get even _more_ terrified.’

Everyone stared at him at that, and Harry realized that maybe he said a bit too much.

Derek snorted, surprisingly, as his mother glared at the house.

‘My sister said that we should get some clowns to lighten you up.’

‘Which sister?’, Stiles whispered.

‘Laura’, Derek said, the _obviously_ implied.

They both snickered for a while, but Mrs. Hale cut them off pretty quickly, making her way towards the house and ordering them to start setting the table.

Harry was quick to throw himself into the task, barely sparing a look at the impressive mansion they walked it, but Ron was lagging, his eyes quickly moving around the dining room they were directed to, just as he did the first time he came to Pivet Drive and as he did yesterday, in the Stilinski's house.

‘Ron, dear’, Mrs. Hale said, ‘are you alright?’

‘What?’, he blinked, not at her. ‘Fine.’

‘It’s the house’, Harry said around a smile.

‘What about it?’, she frowned.

‘It’s just that Ron grew up in a… in a house that literally stands up because of magic. And your home is very… muggle, even if you’re involved in the wizarding world.’

The woman nodded. ‘My husband and I aren’t wizards. No idea what happened to my kids.’

She pulled a funny face.

‘Yes, all of her kids’, a new voice said, and when Harry turned towards the door, he nearly dropped the plate he was holding.

There was a beautiful young woman in the doorway. Tall and slim, with the same dark hair like Derek and his mother, but with his light blue, piercing eyes.

And when he realized that she looked a lot like Derek, Harry stopped thinking she was beautiful. He, apparently, still had some self-preservation instinct.

‘I’m Laura’, she told him, ‘Derek’s older, much more cooler sister.’

‘True’, Stiles said easily, as Derek rolled his eyes.

‘Nice to meet you’, Harry smiled at her, as Ron asked ‘Have I seen you before?’

Laura turned to grin at him, looking only mildly terrifying.

‘You sure did, Ron. We met when Charlie was in year… five, was it?’

It took a few seconds, but Ron’s eyes grew wide and he even took a step back, even if Laura wasn’t anywhere near him.

‘And you remembered the balloon.’, Laura grinned.

Ron nodded once, and pointedly looked away from her and from Harry’s questioning look.

‘I don’t wanna talk about it’, was all Ron said.

Hermione came in the room, then, carrying food, and with another girl following, younger than everyone else in the room, too young for Hogwarts, still. She was clearly a Hale, looking a lot more like their mother than her siblings, with brown eyes and hair just a touch lighter. She didn’t say anything, didn’t even look at the strangers in her house.

‘And this antisocial butterfly’, Derek drawled out, ‘is Cora.’

‘At least I’m a butterfly’, she shrugged. ‘Means I’m pretty.’

Derek rolled his eyes at that, but it looked fond. He ruffled her hair, making her whine and bat her hands at him, and that was a familiar sight to Harry, having seen various Weasley siblings administering the treatment to Ginny.

It was a little weird seeing Derek doing it, though. Harry always thought he was a cold type of person, detached and unsentimental. He was probably wrong in that assumption, Harry mused, just as Mrs. Hale invited everyone to sit down and eat.

‘Scott’s not coming?’, it was Cora that asked.

‘He has work’, Stiles nodded.

‘Lydia?’, she went on.

‘Plans with her mother’, Hermione supplied.

‘And dad?’, Laura asked.

‘Has an emergency at work.’

Laura pulled a face. ‘What kind of an emergency could a bookshop owner have?’

Hermione’s head snapped to Derek, who was sitting beside her. ‘Your father has a bookstore?’

‘That adventure is planned for tomorrow’, Stiles said, making Hermione beam at him.

‘Nerds’, Laura said gently. ‘A trip to a bookstore is not an adventure.’

Stiles and Hermione both looked like they wanted to argue with that, but somehow, they shared a look and decided on not talking.

They dug in.

Ϟ

A few hours later, they were in the woods behind the Hale house, in a beautiful clearing that provided some shade against the hot summer air.

Hermione and Stiles were deep into a conversation about werewolves, her asking a million questions and him answering with a perpetual smile on his face. Ron was asleep on a pillow made of leaves, and Harry and Derek were sitting side by side in the grass, not having spoken for a long while.

But Harry broke that silence, talking in a whisper, as to not disturb the people around them.

‘So Laura was in Gryffindor?’

Derek hummed. ‘And very proud of it.’

‘Did she… have a problem with you being in Hufflepuff?’

The wolf shrugged. ‘She never said anything, not to me. But she asked me once, if _I_ minded.’

‘Did you?’

‘Not really.’, Derek looked to Harry. ‘I kind of had a choice.’

Harry raised his eyebrows at that.

‘The hat said that it looked like the Hales were going to be another family with a Gryffindor tradition. I argued that I was too different from Laura for that to happen.’

Harry smiled at that, cause he saw it, kind of. ‘So why Hufflepuff? You’re smart enough for Ravenclaw.’

‘Thanks’, Derek rolled his eyes, before he hesitated, a little. ‘I am smart, but I lack the… determination needed for Ravenclaw.’

‘Really?’, Harry asked, highly doubtful.

Derek was always with a book at hand, and once Harry started paying attention, he realized that Derek was a very good student, with good grades.

‘I like learning’, Derek said, ‘but I only like learning about things I’m interested in. I make an effort in all the other school subjects, but not that big of an effort.’

Harry was silent for a few seconds.

‘I had a choice too’, he said, making Derek turn to look at him again. ‘The hat wanted to put me in Slytherin.’

Derek started smiling, slowly. ‘I can see it.’

Harry rolled his eyes.

‘Would have been nice’, Stiles said, clearly having heard everything. ‘We could have been friends from the start’, he grinned.

‘I’m not sure _we_ would have been’, Hermione tilted her head.

‘Speak for yourself’, Ron sleepily mumbled, not bothering with getting up. ‘I met Harry on the train. I would have still been his friend, Slytherin or not.’

Harry couldn’t stop the grin that took over his face, even if he could feel himself flushing.

‘Makes it easier, though, doesn’t it?’, Stiles frowned. ‘Being in the same house, not scattered around three different ones. Let me tell you, I spend more time running on the Hogwarts corridors than I actually spend with my pack.’, he sighed, deeply. ‘Everything would be much easier if-‘

‘Phones’, Hermione interrupted. ‘And wifi.’

‘God, wifi!’, Stiles agreed with feeling. ‘That would be Heaven! Youtube videos before going to bed, being able to research muggle things properly and include wizard/muggle comparisons in essays and-‘

Stiles cut off with a high-pitched scream, harmonized by Hermione’s equally high-pitched one, just as someone seemingly flew in front of them.

It took a second for Harry to realize that it was Scott.

‘I hate you’, Stiles breathed out. ‘I hate you so much when you do that, oh god’. He turned to Derek. ‘And you! You couldn’t tell us he was coming?’

‘Where’s the fun in that?’, Derek said with an impressive straight face.

Stiles huffed in anger, getting up and running at Derek. The wolf didn’t really fight, as Stiles tackled him to the ground. It went on for a while, Stiles clearly trying his best and Derek clearly not bothering too much as they rolled around on the ground.

‘Sometimes’, Scott sighed, sitting down next to Harry, ‘I think Stiles has a lot more wolf in him than any of us.’

‘Wolf?’, Harry tilted his head. ‘Or puppy?’

Scott blinked twice, before he started sniggering.

‘So’, he sobered up. ‘Sorry I didn’t make it to lunch. What did I miss? Besides Mrs. Hale’s lovely body.’

Harry groaned, blushing furiously and hiding his face in his hands. He had a feeling that was exactly what Scott wanted.

Ϟ

They had dinner that night at Scott’s house. It was just ordered pizza, but that was alright. Even Lydia showed up, and Scott’s mother was very funny.

Well, no, she wasn’t that funny, the way she treated Scott and Stiles was funny. Harry liked her.

Harry liked everyone he met in Beacon Hills.

Ϟ

Breakfast on Saturday was blueberry pancakes made by the Sheriff, paired with Stiles grilling his dad about any new cases he had at the station or at the Ministry.

After that, the boys were dropped off into the center of town, heading straight to StoryHale’s _._

Harry was right, Derek did look like his father. Dark, fluffy hair, bright greenish eyes, chiseled jaw and –

‘He looks like Prince Charming’, Hermione whispered in his ear.

Harry snorted on a laugh, because he did. But the fairytale was soon shattered, when Mr. Hale took one look at them and raised a condescending eyebrow.

‘Stiles, you’re not allowed in the Dark Arts section. Hermione, you are but don’t touch anything without me being there. Harry, you’re going to get very bored, very fast and Ron, there’s a tea and food cart next to the muggle section.’

Harry and Ron were both staring with jaws dropped. Stiles was pouting.

Hermione took a step forward and smiled, politely.

‘Nice to meet you, Mr. Hale. Where _is_ the Dark Arts section?’

The man pointed, then went back to whatever work he was doing at the counter. Hermione bounced away, Stiles grumbled something and headed towards a different part of the bookstore, Ron went straight to the food cart and Harry was left there, standing like an idiot.

Mr. Hale grinned at him. ‘How’s your math?’

Harry blinked. ‘Average?’

‘Good. Come here and help me do my books.’

Harry did just that, quickly getting sucked into it.

It was hours later that his stomach growled and Stiles all but dragged them out. Hermione bought five books and got a discount for them, but only after she answered a series of quiz questions from Mr. Hale. Harry didn’t even understand half of them.

She was grinning when they got back into town.

‘I love that place.’

‘Do you love Mr. Hale too?’, Stiles teased.

Hermione blushed instantly, looking away.

‘It’s okay’, Stiles snickered. ‘We all love him, much to Derek’s displeasure.’

‘I feel like there’s a story there’, Ron said.

‘A story for another time’, Stiles grinned. ‘Now, food.’

They went to a diner in town, called Rosie’s, where everyone knew Stiles. Scott and Lydia joined them, and it was nice. Harry was feeling very nice.

He was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Ϟ

That evening, they all had dinner at Stiles’s place again. Nobody cooked, they ordered in, pizza and Chinese, but the living room was filled again.

With Lydia and Ron in a corner, talking in hushed tones about something, with Stiles and Derek in another corner, stealing each other’s food and bickering on and on, Cora sprawled over Scott’s lap, sharing a plate, and Harry and Hermione talking with the Sheriff, about all the brilliant things that were different in the wizarding world.

After the food was gone and everyone was mellowed down, Hermione got up and made her way to Scott’s side, somewhat hesitantly.

‘I have a question.’

‘Of course you do’, he smiled kindly at her, spearing a look to Stiles. ‘Ask away.’

‘Do you want us to join your pack?’

Everyone was shocked into silence. Honestly, Harry has never thought of that, but it made sense. This whole weekend made sense, thinking of that.

‘Told you’, Stiles sing-sang, but he was ignored.

‘No’, Scott looked to Harry. ‘I don’t want you to join my pack, I know it’s not… where you’re supposed to be. But I do want to be your friend. We all do.’

Harry and Hermione shared a long look. He saw excitement in her eyes, and they didn’t need words to understand each other. Ron was next, who looked like he was completely unbothered by the situation, but Harry knew better, by the way he was angling his body towards Lydia, very careful not to actually touch her.

He looked to Derek next, who wasn’t looking at him, but down at his hands. He was smiling, though, as was Stiles.

Looking back to Scott, who was grinning, Harry smiled.

‘That doesn’t sound too bad.’, he said. ‘Gotta warn you, though, being friends with Harry Potter is not an easy feat.’

‘You clearly don’t know Stiles’, Scott was quick to say, making his friend let out an equally affronted and hurt sound.

‘There, there’, Derek patted his back, ‘you and Harry can be weirdoes together now.’

‘Oh, you’re one to talk’, Stiles rolled his eyes.

‘Maybe we can _all_ be weirdoes together’, Hermione offered, clearly trying not to laugh.

‘I am NOT a weirdo’, Ron said with a surprising amount of force.

Cora laughed very hard at that, surprising everyone. ‘Oh, it’s cute you think that.’

‘You Hales are awful.’, Stiles hissed out.

Of course, everyone laughed at that.

                                                             Ϟ

‘How was your camping trip?’, Uncle Vernon asked at dinner that Sunday night.

‘Surprising’, Harry said, making the older man narrow his eyes.

‘What the hell does that mean, boy?’

‘That I got a nice surprise out of it.’

‘Oh yeah?’, Vernon challenged. ‘And what’s that?’

Harry tilted his head. ‘That some people are actually capable of caring for me.’

He left without another word, ignoring Vernon’s hurtful words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like we needed some proper bonding to begin with. Don't worry, tho, the action's gonna start in the next chapter :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being expelled for use of magic outside of school, Harry hoped that once he got back to Hogwarts, things might get better. That didn’t happen, Umbridge hurting everyone she could. Harry and his friends had to fight back.

Harry quickly forgot about the nice weekend spent in Beacon Hills, because as soon as he got back to Pivet Drive, the nightmares came back.

Some nights, he dreamt about Krum, about how he died. Harry didn’t see it, but he dreamt that he was the one to do it. Other nights, he dreamt about Voldemort’s return, about the searing pain he felt when the dark wizard touched him.

He had no contact from his friends, Dumbledore’s ban on contacting Harry Potter still in full.

Days were lonely, and nights were painful.

Ϟ

And then Dementors attacked him and Dudley. He had to use magic, he was expelled for it.

Harry didn’t get angry too often, not really. But then, his blood boiled.

It only stopped boiling when a young woman with bright purple hair and a glowing wand stepped into his bedroom, Moody grumbling behind her.

Ϟ

The house at Grimauld’s place was as weird as it was beautiful, and as beautiful as it was creepy, and Harry’s first thought was that Stiles would probably love it.

He got a hug from Mrs. Weasley, and caught sight of Remus and Sirius, but that was it.

And then Hermione was hugging him, and Ron was, once again, apologizing for not writing to him and the constricting feeling in Harry’s chest ebbed away some.

Some.

Ϟ

There were a lot of people coming in and out of the Headquarters over the next days.

Lupin came and went often, McGonagall and Snape. Sheriff Stilinski gave Harry a warm hug every time he came, and Mrs. Hale always smiled at him.

But nothing made Harry feel better. It wasn’t just the fear of the Ministry hearing hanging over his head, but also the fact that the world didn’t believe Voldemort returned, and the fact that the Order wanted to keep him out of the loop.

Harry hated not knowing. He hated being treated like a child, like he was incapable of fighting.

Ron kept asking him to calm down. Hermione kept saying that maybe Stiles will be able to find out more from his father.

Harry’s nightmares didn’t improve.

Ϟ

Mr. Weasley was tasked to take Harry to the hearing. On the tube, they met Stiles.

‘Oh, dad forgot his lunch’, he juggled a paper bag. ‘He has a case at the Ministry, we’ve been staying at the Hog’s Head.’

Harry saw straight through that.

Stiles didn’t even bother to look sheepish. ‘I mean, he never intended to bring lunch, but…’

Harry managed to smile at that, albeit briefly.

‘I’ll show you to his office’, Mr. Weasley relented. ‘We have a bit of time before Harry’s hearing starts.’

But that changed, the Ministry hurrying the time of the hearing. So Stiles joined them, and Harry was surprised to hear him snarl, literally snarl like a wolf, when they saw Lucius Malfoy speaking with Fudge.

Harry didn’t really find it in himself to ask about it.

‘Remember, during the hearing, speak only when you’re spoken to’, Mr. Weasley said. ‘Keep calm, you’ve done nothing wrong. As the muggles say, truth will out!’

‘Or as dad says’, Stiles countered, ‘guilty perps never look the judge in the eye.’

Harry took a deep breath, and in he went.

Ϟ

‘I knew it!’, Stiles all but yelled when Harry came out of the hearing. ‘I knew it, there was no way they were gonna expel you, woohoo!’

In his enthusiasm, Stiles almost hit Harry on the head when they hugged. He didn’t mind.

‘Come on, boys. Let’s go back’, Mr. Weasley was smiling. ‘Everyone’s waiting.’

‘Yeah, let’s.’, Stiles lead the way.

‘Aren’t you going to see your dad?’

Stiles snorted. ‘I am going to see my dad, considering he’s back… at Padfoot’s place.’

Harry rolled his eyes, he should have seen that one coming. ‘Then what’s in the bag?’

‘Oh’, Stiles blinked, handing it to him. ‘I got you a celebratory cupcake.’

It was mint chocolate chip and Harry did not share it.

Ϟ

Stiles kept close to them on the train ride to Hogwarts. Scott sat with Allison and Lydia, and Derek sat alone in a compartment, reading, but Stiles sat with Harry, Ron and Hermione.

So he was there after they got off the train, when Malfoy started taunting Harry.

He moved to punch him, anger flashing stronger than ever. Ron stopped Harry, but there was nobody to stop Stiles.

Who landed a punch to Malfoy’s stomach.

Then both Harry and Ron worked to keep Stiles back.

‘You’re going to regret that, Stilinski’, Draco said slowly, hate clearly burning in his eyes.

‘Oh yeah?’, Stiles taunted. ‘What are you going to do about it, huh? Have your goons follow me around, throwing hexes left and right? Try to hex me while I’m sleeping, or studying in the common room? News flash, Malfoy, I’ve been dealing with that for four years now.’

Draco snarled. ‘I will hurt you.’

Stiles, the nutter, grinned. ‘I can’t wait.’

After Draco and his friends were gone, Hermione put a hand on Stiles’s shoulder.

‘It’s just Malfoy, you shouldn’t let him get to you like that.’

‘It’s not him that I hate, he’s just an idiot following in his father’s footsteps.’

‘What did Lucius do to you?’, Ron asked.

Stiles considered. ‘Nothing, personally. But he interfered in my dad’s life on more than one occasion. In his cases, in his connections at the Ministry. Almost got him fired once, and nearly got him killed, twice.’

‘Oh, Stiles’, Hermione sighed.

‘And is it true, what you said?’, Ron said next. ‘About your house mates trying to hurt you?’

Stiles shrugged. ‘ _Trying_ being the important thing here. They never manage to actually do it.’

He grinned, next. ‘Come on, we’ll miss the carriages.’

Ϟ

‘You’re not going mad.  I can see them too. You’re just as sane as I am.’

The blonde girl's words didn’t make Harry feel better.

‘Oh, good’, Stiles said. ‘I thought I was the only one who could see them. Cool, cool.’

That helped, marginally.

Ϟ

Everyone in school was staring at Harry. He really should have gotten used to it, by now. But he didn’t.

Not when Seamus wasn’t the only one who believed what the Prophet said. Not when very few people actually believed what Harry and Scott saw.

He wondered if Scott got the same treatment.

That question was answered when Scott sat next to him one morning for breakfast, angrily seething, so much so that his eyes kept flashing between brown and red.

‘I knew people wouldn’t believe us. But I didn’t think they’d be this big of idiots, to actually confront us.’

Harry sighed. ‘At least we’ve got the Order.’

‘ _You_ ’ve got the Order’, Scott shook his head. ‘Nobody even thought of asking me to join.’

‘I thought you already did that when you said you wanted to help me fight him.’, Harry said in a rush.

‘Well, yeah, but it’s not the same thing, isn’t it?’

Harry tilted his head. ‘The adults, especially Moony and Mrs. Weasley, they don’t want _us_ to be in the Order, not properly.’

‘Cause we’re kids’, Scott all but snarled.

‘Yeah. But Sirius said something to me, he said that we’re the young ones now, like him, my dad and Remus were once. So…’, he grinned, as stupidly as he could, hoping to mellow down Scott’s anger.

‘You wanna be part of the Young Rogue Order of the Phoenix?’

Scott snorted. Then, he laughed. Then he clapped Harry on the shoulder.

‘You’re good, dude. You’re good.’

Harry grinned, feeling lighter in that moment.

Ϟ

He didn’t tell anyone about what detention with Umbridge entailed. He managed to hide it for a couple of weeks.

But then Stiles summoned them all to the usual empty Charms classroom, and he was furious and pale.

‘We have to do everything in our power, _everything_ , so that Scott and Derek don’t get detention with Umbridge.’

‘Why?’, Hermione asked.

When Stiles lifted his robe sleeves and showed his hand, Hermione gasped. Derek growled, and Lydia pulled a handkerchief out of her bag, wordlessly wrapping Stiles’ still bleeding wound.

‘Why can’t Scott and Derek-‘, Ron tried.

Stiles cut him off quickly. ‘They heal faster. She can’t know they’re werewolves.’

‘But you said the teachers know’, Harry pointed out.

‘They do, but I don’t think anybody told her yet. See, the thing is, she _hates_ werewolves. And banshees, and centaurs and goblins and every magical creature that posses intelligence. I don’t…’, he faltered. ‘I don’t know what she’ll do if she finds out.’

‘Dumbledore wouldn’t let her-‘, Hermione tried, but Stiles cut her off by forcefully taking Harry’s hand and bringing their wounds next to each other.

‘Tell me what Dumbledore won’t let her do’, Stiles said with a sort of empty voice.

Hermione had no answer to that.

‘You should have told us’, Allison said with an amount of anger that surprised Harry. ‘You should have told us sooner and maybe Stiles wouldn’t have misbehaved, if he knew what awaited him.’

‘Probably still would’ve’, Stiles said, but Allison ignored him.

‘We can’t do this if you’re keeping things from us, Harry.’, Allison got closer to him, glaring heavily. ‘We’re supposed to be fighting together, but if you’re keeping information, who knows what will happen to us later on? Stiles got hurt now, but what if someone gets killed, next?’

‘Stop it’, Scott said with authority, but putting a gentle hand on his girlfriend’s shoulder. ‘I know you’re upset, but I’m sure Harry didn’t think-‘

‘Exactly’, Allison all but exploded, turning quickly to face Harry again, forcing him to take a step back. ‘You didn’t think!’

‘I did, actually’, he said, meekly. ‘I thought that it was just going to be me.’

Allison faltered. ‘What does that mean?’

‘Umbridge was at my hearing. She voted against me and I thought she was just going to do this to me, just to me. I’m sorry’, he managed to look Allison in the eyes. ‘I hate people who withhold information from the ones fighting on the same side. Feel free to… punch me, if I ever do that again.’

‘Oh, she’ll do much worse than punch you’, Lydia said, grinning.

It… really didn’t help Harry.

He knew them, by now. Scott and Stiles, Lydia and Derek. The days they spent together in Beacon Hills, even if there were few, they got to know each other then. But Allison wasn’t there.

And it was clear that she didn’t trust Harry as much as the rest of the pack did. And, honestly, Harry was just as apprehensive of her.

Allison huffed and left without another word, Scott following her, even if he did look apologetic.

‘She’ll calm down’, Stiles said. ‘Eventually.’

‘The Argent’s aren’t very big on trust’, Derek said, and Harry made a mental note to ask about that later.

Ϟ

Luna was the weirdest person Harry ever met, and that was saying a lot. But she did make a good point.

‘If I was Voldemort, I’d want you to feel cut off from everyone else. Because if it’s just you alone, you’re not as much of a threat.’

Harry took her words to heart and although it was hard, he spent as much time with his friends as he could. Not just Hermione and Ron, but Ginny as well, Fred and George, Scott and his pack.

The first time Harry sat down next to Stiles for lunch, the entire Great Hall fell quiet. The murmurs started only when Hermione and Ron joined them.

During a Herbology lesson that they shared with Hufflepuffs, Harry partnered up with Scott as Ron partnered up with Derek, and Hermione made a big deal of being heartbroken about it. Everyone stared.

Harry was walking to the library when he heard a few Ravenclaw girls gossiping, about how they couldn’t believe that Lydia was actually giving Ron the light of day. They stopped talking when they saw him, so Harry didn’t say anything. And when he got to the library, Ron and Lydia were doing homework together.

One Saturday afternoon, Harry didn’t join everyone on their trip to Hogsmeade, because he was getting a cold and he feared of making it worse. So he spent time doing his homework in the Great Hall, with Derek sitting next to him.

In an hour, four different girls came over and asked Derek to join them at Hogsmeade. It was only after that fourth girl left, that Harry decided to ask.

‘Does that happen often, then?’

‘Yes’, came Derek’s annoyed answer. ‘I don’t even know their names. It’s terribly annoying.’

Harry had no answer to that, so he said nothing and went back to his homework. However, when he saw the fifth girl approaching, he made sure to ask Derek something that he knew he was interested in. And, sure enough, Derek started talking, his excitement increasing with every word, and the girl didn’t even bother with coming to their side.

Ϟ

Umbridge was horrific.

What was happening at Hogwarts was horrible and Harry felt like punching someone, mostly Umbridge, all day, every day.

They all felt the same, but nobody had the power to actually change anything.

Ϟ

‘Educational Decree Number 26 forbids a boy and a girl from being within eight inches of each other’, Stiles read the newest decree out loud, erupting into hysterical, loud laughter.

‘Stop it, Stilinski!’, Pansy Parkinson wailed. ‘Why are you laughing? This is terrible.’

Stiles only laughed harder at that, but he calmed down soon enough.

‘You’re right, it is terrible. If, you know-‘, he paused long enough to all but plaster himself to Derek’s side, ‘if you’re straight.’

Pansy’s jaw dropped and really, all of the people present had the same reaction, Harry included.

Derek sighed, deeply. ‘I don’t care that you wanted to come out, but did you have to force me to do it as well?’

‘You’re gay?’, Pansy screeched, clearly still not understanding.

‘I’m bi’, Stiles said, ‘he’s gay’, he pointed at Derek.

Derek, who sighed again and somewhat gently, pushed Stiles a little way away.

‘And we’re not seeing each other.’

‘Right’, Stiles said after a beat. ‘We’re not.’

Ron started laughing hysterically, snapping everyone from their shock.

‘Mate’, he told Stiles, squeezing his shoulder. ‘Don’t ever change.’

Stiles grinned wildly.

Ϟ

Harry didn’t know what hurt more. The scar on his hand, the useless classes they had to go through, or the fact that Dumbledore was ignoring him.

Ϟ

He noticed, one day, that Hermione was spending an unusual amount of time with Stiles.

Always out in the open, always with the ruler between them (Stiles started carrying it around after Decree 26, a simple wooden ruler, 8 inches long), always talking in whispers.

Harry only learned why that was when Hermione dragged him to Hog’s Head, explaining that she and Stiles believed that Harry was the right choice to teach them magic.

It was ridiculous, to his ears.

But Ron and Scott were there. With Derek, Allison and Lydia, Stiles standing, quite excitedly, by Hermione’s side.

And Fred and George were there, with Luna, Neville and Cho, even Dean. And a bunch of other people.

It took some yelling, and a lot of strength from Harry to say the words he wanted out loud, but Dumbledore’s Army was born.

Ϟ

When Neville found the Room of Requirement, spirits were immediately lifted, in sync with Stiles lifting Neville off the ground in excitement.

Harry thought he was going to feel weird teaching. He thought he was going to be rubbish at it.

He did feel weird, but he was not rubbish. Slowly but surely, the DA members were improving, even Neville.

Ϟ

The DA was also an opportunity for socialization. With Umbridge and her decrees, they didn’t really have that anymore.

It surprised Harry, to see new bonds forming between DA members: Luna and Neville, Ginny and Lydia, Ron and Allison.

While Ginny and Lydia could often be seen giggling in a corner, Luna and Neville could always be seen working together, helping each other out with the spells they were practicing. While Ron never got flustered by Lydia these days, he always got flustered around Allison, but she was always calm and kind and willing to work with him.

Harry also learned new things about his friends. He learned that there wasn’t a spell that Hermione and Stiles didn’t master from the first try. Lydia had trouble with more powerful spells, because her banshee magic was interfering, whatever that meant.

Derek was a natural at magic. He may not succeed in doing every spell the first time, but in comparison to everyone else, he could very quickly gain elegance in his spellsmanship, which is not a thought Harry ever thought he’d have.

As elegant as Derek was, as harsh Allison was. Her spells were strong and brutal, take no survivors kind of thing. Harry was afraid of her, even before she showed up one day with a crossbow and a thigh quiver, saying that she wanted to train in something non-magical, for a change.

Scott was struggling with his spells, only because they didn’t come instinctually. His first instinct was to click his claws and snap his teeth, not to pull out his wand. Harry spent a couple of long hours discussing it with Derek, who didn’t seem to have the same issues, and together they managed to find a way to help Scott, a way for him to find the middle ground between the two.

The greatest shock Harry got came from Ginny and the sheer amount of power that came out of her wand. He didn’t show it as much as he could have, but he made sure she understood how proud he was of her.

Seeing as how Ginny shared a laugh with Hermione and Lydia after their discussion, Harry thought he made the right call in keeping his mouth mostly shut.

Ϟ

‘So do I sign up for the Inquisitor Squad to have a man on the inside?’, Stiles asked out of nowhere at lunch one day, ‘Or do I just… not do that.’

‘Good idea’, Hermione tilted her head. ‘But there’s no way Umbridge would accept you.’

‘The whole squad is made of Slytherins! She accepted Malfoy’, Stiles seemed indignant. ‘And his two brainless bodyguards.’

‘Exactly’, Hermione nodded. ‘And they’ll be sure to tell her that you’re friends with Harry. She’s not going to let you join.’

‘Fine’, Stiles sighed. ‘You’re probably right.’

‘She usually is’, Harry piped up, just to remind them he was there.

Hermione flushed, pleased, while Stiles glared at him.

‘I think you’ll find’, he patted his chest, ‘that I’m usually right as well.’

‘Right’, Harry nodded. ‘Unless you’re going against Hermione, then it's a 50-50 shot.’

Stiles huffed angrily, but didn’t deny it.

‘Are you guys still doing this?’, Harry couldn’t help but ask. ‘I genuinely thought you were past this useless hatred towards each other, you’ve been working so well in the DA.’

‘It wasn’t hate’, Stiles said quickly, too quickly considering he blushed a little and didn’t look at Hermione.

‘It wasn’t’, she said gently, but he still refused to look at her.

‘We’re fine, Harry’, Hermione said next, ‘This is just friendly banter. Really, this is nothing, compared to what he and Derek go through.’

‘I hate him’, Stiles said after a beat.

‘No, you really don’t’, Hermione fought back a laugh. ‘Far from it, I think.’

Harry didn’t really understand what she was implying, just that she was implying something. He thought it was best not to ask.

Derek came to the table then, making Stiles blush again. The wolf didn’t say anything, just grabbed a few pumpkin pasties from a plate and pulled out a book from his bag, clearly intent on ignoring them and reading.

But he paused, noticing the silence. ‘What?’, he asked, eyes lingering on Stiles.

It made him snap out of whatever funk he was in. ‘I was just saying how much I hate you.’

Derek blinked, eyes skipping towards Stiles’s chest. ‘Lie’, he said confidently, clearly having heard his heartbeat.

‘Fine’, Stiles rolled his eyes. ‘Let’s change the subject.’

Apparently, he wanted to talk to Hermione about Jack the Ripper. Harry tuned them out.

Ϟ

The last lesson before Christmas was a memorable one.

Neville managed to disarm Luna, which made her shriek in delight and hug him tightly. He looked a little dazed after it, but snapped out of it when Harry congratulated him.

Cho lingered, after everyone left. So did Ginny, but Fred and George said something to her that made her smile at Harry and leave quickly. He didn’t understand it, but as he was making his way to Cho’s side, he forgot about Ginny completely.

The kiss was as surprising as it was wanted, and it left Harry feeling a little dazed and very confused as to why Cho did not look happy afrerwards.

Harry wanted to think more of it, really he did, but that night, he was plagued with nightmares and they were different than before.

Because they weren’t nightmares and because Mr. Weasley really was hurt.

Ϟ

He hated yelling at Dumbledore. But he hated being kept out of the loop even more.

Harry knew he scared his friends. Not just because he was able to have a vision about what happened to Mr. Weasley, but also because of how he was acting. And how he looked, a downright mess, still shivering, sweat pooling on his face.

Snape was summoned, and Ginny, sweet little Ginny, she stopped the professor from dragging Harry away. She grabbed Harry’s hand, tightly in hers, and used her free arm to hug him tightly.

Ginny whispered her thanks into the skin at his neck and Harry felt himself calm down, slightly.

It was all washed down the drain when Snape started talking about Occlumency.

Ϟ

It was the first Christmas Harry didn’t spend at Hogwarts. Grimauld’s place was filled with Weasleys, and Hermione was there as well, having opted out of her family tradition of going skiing for Christmas.

Harry was grateful for having them close, but he was more grateful for the time he got to spend with Sirius. There were still secrets between them, a lot of them, Sirius falling under Moody and Mrs. Weaseley’s orders of not telling the children everything the Order did. But Sirius was trying.

He was winking at him, telling him funny stories about Harry’s dad, stories from Hogwarts, stories from after. Stories from the night Harry was born and the day James married Lilly.

Even though Harry’s heart was heavy and his mind was plagued by darkness, Sirius gave him a few moments of light.

And it wasn’t just him.

Other Order members kept making their way to Grimauld’s, Lupin joining in on the memory fest every now and then, Tonks lifting up the mood in the room just with a change in hair color.

And now, when Mrs. Hale or Mr. Stilinski had business at Grimauld’s Place, they brought their children along. Derek was always followed by Cora, and Stiles was always followed by Scott. On the one occasion when they managed to get there at the same time, they ended up spending the night, the parents not wanting to disturb their very intense game of Exploding Snap.

Hermione took Cora to sleep together with Ginny, but the boys ended up falling asleep in the living room, curled up in armchairs or sprawled on the floor.

That’s how Sirius found them the next morning, and he woke them up by banging pots together and singing a disgustingly cheerful song about trolls and goblins.

Derek woke up growling, Stiles flailed and fell from the couch he was sleeping on, Scott started begging for coffee, Ron didn’t actually wake up and Harry, well, he just laughed for a long while.

Ϟ

There was a shift in the air when the prisoners escaped from Azkaban. On one hand, everybody seemed to be on high alert. On the other hand, Seamus apologized and said he believed Harry and Scott’s story about Voldemort returning, and that seemed to spark a movement through the entire school. They weren’t all friendly, but at least they stopped actively hating on Harry and Scott.

And then, there was Neville, who told Harry that Bellatrix Lestrange was the one who tortured his parents. He tried to be as supportive as possible.

Stiles already knew, considering he asked Harry if Neville was alright. By this point, he had almost gotten used to Stiles knowing things he shouldn’t have.

Ϟ

On the count of everything that was happening, Harry decided to teach the DA the Patronus charm. It was a very fun lesson.

Derek’s wolf was imposing, its howl drawing everyone’s attention, especially after Stiles’ fox wanted to play.

On the other side of the room, Hermione’s otter was happily dancing with Scott’s German Sheppard, as Ron’s terrier was running around after Lydia’s swan and Allison’s panther.

It was a very fun lesson, that was cut short. Umbridge found them, because of Cho. They were all punished.

Shoved into a room with neat tables and writing tools waiting. There was so much blood in that room, and so many tears, Harry’s heart was in pieces.

And then Dumbledore fled, and Harry felt hopeless.

He couldn’t even look at Cho anymore, and he wasn’t the only one.

Ϟ

While meeting Gwarp, Hagrid’s half brother, the giant!, Harry felt… detached. The only spark of emotion came when Hagrid said that Gwarp was the only family he got.

That spark of emotion came very often during the Occlumency lessons. Harry felt useless there, as well. He really didn’t think that Snape was helping, running Harry exhausted, physically, psychically and emotionally.

And then, Harry got into Snape’s head. He saw the awful way James treated him, he felt Snape’s pain and desperation and Harry might have pitied him, for a second. It was gone in a flash, when Snape declared their lessons finished.

The only reprise in the darkness that fell upon Hogwarts came thanks to Fred and George. They left school with a bang, and it was a marvelous sight, and a glorious feeling, seeing someone sticking it up to Umbridge.

And, of course, it was gone as soon as it came, with a vision of Voldemort torturing Sirius.

Ϟ

‘It’s a trap’, Stiles argued, right alongside Hermione.

‘What if it is?’, Harry was trying to control his temper. ‘I’m supposed to just let him die? He’s the only family I’ve got left.’

Hermione and Stiles shared a look.

‘We’ll help you’, he finally said .

‘No’, Harry was quick to cut him off. ‘I’m going alone.’

Surprisingly enough, Stiles didn’t fight him on it, not as Hermione and Ron did.

He didn’t think about it, not really, Harry just rushed to Umbridge’s office, where things escalated very quickly.

They got caught, Ginny, Neville and Luna as well, Harry managed to send the message to Snape, but he had no idea if he was going to do anything about it.

And then Hermione had a plan that Harry didn’t understand, and then they were in the forest with Umbridge, surrounded by centaurs.

Gwarp came, and the centaurs swept Umbridge away and Harry couldn’t care less, all he cared about was Sirius.

Ϟ

When they met up with the rest of the people that were caught, they weren’t alone. The pack was with them.

‘I figured something was gonna happen’, Stiles shrugged. ‘We got them out.’

‘So how are we getting to London?’, Neville asked, and Harry was quick to shut him out, shut all of them out.

‘Stop being stupid’, Lydia rolled her eyes.

‘Dumbledore’s Army was supposed to be about doing something real’, Neville said with feeling.

Derek and Scott, in sync, drew their claws, startling Neville and Ginny, Luna just tilted her head curiously. Allison pulled out a small crossbow from under her robes and Ginny threw Harry her patented _stop being stupid_ look.

Stiles was just grinning at Harry.

‘So how do we get to London?’, Harry asked.

‘We fly, of course’, Luna answered serenely.

‘And once there, how do we get inside the Ministry?’, Neville asked.

‘That’s easy’, Stiles waved him off.

‘Come on’, Hermione straightened her back.

She started running and they all followed.

Ϟ

Sirius wasn’t there. Sirius wasn’t there, and Harry realized that this has been a trap that he walked right in, and he brought all of his friends down with him and-

‘It’s got your name on it’, Stiles all but shrieked.

Hearing the prophecy about himself and the Dark Lord, Harry, once again, felt detached. Mostly because he didn’t understand it, and he didn’t understand why it was so important to Voldemort.

And then Lucius Malfoy was there, and all hell broke loose.

Ϟ

They fought, and they fought hard. They ran, casting spells left and right against a small army of Death Eaters, and the DA training really came into play, but it wasn’t enough.

Even though they escaped the Department of Mysteries, the Death Eaters still caught up with them.

Every one of Harry’s friends was being held by a Death Eater, but he knew he couldn’t do it, he couldn’t give them the Prophecy.

He didn’t understand it, but he was sure that if Voldemort got his hands on it, then everything was lost.

‘Don’t give it to him, Harry’, Neville said strongly.

‘Don’t even think about it’, Stiles seethed.

There was no way Harry was going to let his friends die, not for the sake of a war or every war from now till the end of time.

He gave Malfoy the prophecy, and watched in awe as the Order made its appearance, quickly shoving the kids to the side and taking the Death Eaters on.

Harry didn’t go away, he fought side by side Sirius. He was aware that Derek and Scott did the same, the spells mixing with the sound of their claws slashing and the woosh of Allison’s arrows.

He heard the words, as Bellatrix yelled them. He saw the green light pierce Sirius’ chest.

Harry saw his uncle smile and being swept into the archway.

And then he heard a scream, a horrible, gut wrenching scream. He only realized it came from him when Stiles wrapped his arms around his chest, pulling him back.

Harry didn’t hesitate in running after Lestrange and he didn’t hesitate in trying to curse her. But he hesitated with the killing curse, long enough for Voldemort to appear and disarm him.

And then Dumbldore was there, and Harry was witnessing a marvelous duel, between the most powerful wizards alive.

All the pain he felt, all the grief and anger, everything got ten times worse by seeing Dumbledore fighting Voldemort.

He felt like he was going to explode. He felt like the whole world was going to explode. He felt like he was going to die. He felt like he was going to live, but never breathe again. He felt like he was going to be alone forever, lost in a dark sea of pain and suffering.

It took a long while for Harry to realize that Voldemort was in his head. More than that.

Voldemort was him.

Through the haze of memories and pain, he still heard Dumbledore’s voice.

‘It isn’t how you are alike, Harry. It’s how you are not.’

He heard footsteps coming behind Dumbledore, and he couldn’t look away. His friends, bruised and bleeding, standing there, watching him.

With concern and love.

Hermione, with her bottom lip quivering. Ron, looking like he was ready to fight another dozen Death Eaters. Luna and Neville holding hands. Lydia and Allison with tears in their eyes. Derek, blood still dripping from his claws, whispering ‘come on’ over and over again. Scott, his eyes switching from red to brown.

And Stiles, running to Harry’s side, kneeling in front of him.

‘Fight him’, Stiles said strongly. ‘Harry, you have to fight him.’

‘Love, Harry’, Dumbledore whispered.

Another set of memories flashed in Harry’s head, his mother’s smile and his father’s unruly hair, Sirius’ loud laugh. Hermione’s hands around his neck, Ron’s snores filling up a silent room, Ginny calling him an idiot, Lydia’s red nails against a Gryffindor scarf, Allison and Scott laughing in the grass, Stiles and Derek bickering in a diner.

His heart filled with feelings. Good feelings, love and friendship, companionship and understanding. These feelings grew, quickly replacing the pain Voldemort put in Harry, giving him strength.

Enough strength to fight him.

‘You’re the weak one’, Harry breathed out. ‘And you’ll never know love. Or friendship.’

Dumbledore’s eyes grew wide, as did Stiles’. Harry barely saw them, though, Voldemort’s enraged eyes staring into his.

‘And I feel sorry for you’. With one last push, one last thought of Sirius’ arms around Harry’s shoulders, with one last scream, he pushed Voldemort away.

‘You’re a fool, Harry Potter’, Voldemort said gently. ‘And you will lose everything.’

Harry didn’t say anything.

‘That’s not going to happen’, Stiles said strongly, standing up and facing Voldemort.

The Dark Lord opened his mouth, but didn’t say anything, because people were coming into the Ministry. Lots of people, the Minister himself.

Voldemort fled.

‘He’s back’, Fudge said in a shocked whisper.

‘Brilliant deduction, Minister’, Stiles said angrily. But he wasn’t looking at him, he was looking at a man standing behind him. It was Scott’s father and Harry thought he understood a few things, but he was too weak to properly think about them.

But Stiles was there, wrapping his arms around Harry and pulling him up from the floor. And then Hermione was there, kissing his forehead, and Ron and Ginny, and Derek and Scott, and Lydia and Allison, and Neville and Luna.

Harry was exhausted, he was in pain. He allowed himself the luxury of crying a tear for Sirius, in the strong arms of his friends.

Ϟ

Dumbledore’s apology didn’t make Harry feel any better. Nothing made him feel any better, even if his friends tried, in more ways than Harry could keep up with.

This new weight, of the prophecy, it almost brought despair to Harry, because he couldn’t do anything about it, not really. The thought that he didn’t have a say in his fate, it made him sick to his stomach.

But Harry tried to push the thought away, for the few remaining days of term. He spent most of those alone, his friends leaving him to grieve Sirius, knowing that it was what he wanted.

Still, Stiles cornered him before the end of the year feast. He didn’t offer condolences, didn’t say he was sorry for his loss or any other meaningless words.

Instead, Stiles handed him a piece of parchment with a phone number on it.

‘My mom died when I was eight’, he said, emotionless. ‘A pretty nasty form of dementia that made it so, that by the end of it, she didn’t even know who I was. So I understand some of what you’re going through. We still can’t write, and I don’t think it’ll be safe to talk properly on the phone either. But if you want to talk about Sirius’, he nodded and pointed to the parchment.

Harry hugged him, not able to actually say anything. Meaningless words, he didn’t find it in himself to think about those anymore. But Stiles most likely understood, because he winked as he made his way to the feast.

Harry didn’t. Instead, Harry found Luna and when she said she was sorry about Sirius, he didn’t mind hearing the words, coming from her. Because he knew that they weren’t meaningless, that Luna did mean them.

She lost her mother too, Harry recalled. She understood it too, as did Stiles. It brought him a bit of comfort.

Ϟ

‘I’ve been thinking about something Dumbledore said to me’, Harry said while they were making their way to the train. ‘That even though there’s a fight ahead of us, we’ve got one thing that Voldemort doesn’t have.’

‘What’s that?’, Ron asked.

‘Love?’, Stiles said, overly dramatic.

‘Friendship?’, Scott went on in the same tone.

‘Arrows?’, Allison smiled innocently.

‘Werewolves?’, Derek whispered.

‘Our wits?’, Lydia raised an eyebrow.

‘The Order?’, Hermione whispered.

Harry grinned at his friends. ‘Something worth fighting for.’


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a long, lonely and painful summer, Harry spends the last two weeks of summer in Beacon Hills. He's surprised, he learns some important things, he gets ready for a new year at Hogwarts. And whatever Voldemort throws his way. Which is, apparently, Draco Malfoy.

Summer was a horrible thing, filled with… nothing. Harry has never felt more alone than he felt the summer after Sirius’s death.

The Dursley’s didn’t know anything so they acted as they usually did, unkind and uninterested. It hurt, now more than ever.

There was no communication, between Harry and his friends. For the first month of the holiday, he picked up the phone every day, intent on calling Stiles. He never managed to actually do it, giving up on it each time.

He missed Sirius something horribly.

They didn’t get to spend much time together, all the time they spent felt like nothing at all. Harry wanted more time with his godfather, he wanted all the time in the world.

He was angry, that he wouldn’t get what he wanted. He was furious, that Bellatrix took the last of his family away from him.

And he was lonely. So lonely, it hurt his chest every morning when he woke up, and every night he went to sleep.

Ϟ

It was about two weeks before school started, when Harry woke up to Sheriff Stilinski already sitting at Dursley’s kitchen table. He stared.

‘Harry, son’, the Sheriff smiled kindly. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t call before, but you know that wouldn’t be advised, with the current situation the world is in.’

He said this while throwing a look to Uncle Vernon. It was clear he didn’t understand what the Sheriff was talking about.

‘You do know, right? About … His return? About Sirius’ death?’, the Sheriff frowned.

Harry finally found his voice. ‘They know nothing.’

The Sheriff turned to look at him, incredulous.

‘Absolutely nothing. They don’t care.’, Harry nodded, before swallowing thickly. ‘Why are you here, sir? What’s wrong?’

The older man shook his head. ‘Nothing’s wrong, Harry, not more than usual. I’m here to pick you up.’

‘Where are you planning on taking him?’, Vernon asked, clearly prepared to not let Harry go anywhere.

Sheriff Stilinski turned a cold look to him. ‘There’s a war coming, and unfortunately, Harry is going to be in the dead center of it. Now, I could tell you, how I’m taking him home to prepare him, but I don’t think you’d care about that. So.’, he stood up from his chair. ‘I’ll take Harry out of your hair until school starts. You’ll love that, right? One less mouth to feed?’

He didn’t give Vernon a chance to respond, because he turned to Harry, his expression softening.

‘Pack your trunk, take your time. I’ll wait for you in the car, okay?’

Harry nodded, but didn’t leave the kitchen, not even after the Sheriff was out the front door. On a whim, he said the words that were going through his mind for months now.

‘Aunt Petunia, did you know him? Sirius Black? My godfather? If you knew James, there’s no way you didn’t know Sirius.’

There was anger in her eyes, as she regarded Harry coldly.

‘Last I saw him, he was trying to trick me into hiding him, acting like he wasn’t the reason my sister was dead.’

Harry laughed, a hollow sound. ‘He wasn’t.’

He wanted to say more, but he knew the words would just go over her head. He spared one last look to his uncle, making sure he wasn’t going to stop Harry from leaving, before making his way to his room and packing everything in record time.

Ϟ

Harry didn’t sleep on the road to Beacon Hills, this time.

Instead, he listened to the Sheriff, as he caught Harry up with everything. It wasn’t much, the Order still unwilling to tell the kids everything, but Harry took all the information like a man drowning.

As they got into Beacon Hills, they didn’t head for the Stilinski house, but turned onto the road to the Preserve.

‘You’ll be staying with the Hales this time’, the Sheriff smiled at him. ‘Derek insisted.’

Harry pulled a confused face at that.

‘I didn’t ask’, the old man snorted. ‘But Scott and Stiles seemed to think that it was a good idea.’

‘Okay’, Harry said, in lack of anything else.

‘It’s going to be just you, though’, the Sheriff smiled kindly at him. ‘You’ll see Hermione and Ron at school.’

Harry tried to not show his disappointment, but considering the look the older man threw him, he wasn’t very successful.

Ϟ

The Hales waited for Harry with a very large lunch set up, and with kind smiles on their faces. He got a surprising hug from Derek as soon as he was out of the car, and once they got to the house, Cora all but jumped on Harry, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms, tightly, around his neck.

He acted like he was annoyed by it, only because he thought it would make her laugh. It did. It also made Laura wink at Harry, which only flustered him slightly.

They talked a lot during lunch, but about nothing important. Nobody said Sirius’ name once, and Harry was thankful for it.

Ϟ

After lunch, they went and met with the rest of the pack. Derek took Laura’s car, the sleek black Camaro, carefully driving it through town, to Allison’s house.

‘But I thought her dad wasn’t okay with her hanging out with werewolves.’, Harry frowned, deeply.

‘He wasn't.’, Derek nodded. ‘But her father had a change of heart, when he realized that there were more important things to worry about, than Allison dating Scott.’

Harry nodded. ‘They must be very happy.’

Derek snorted. ‘Yes and no. Cause they’re allowed to see each other now, yes, but no, they aren’t allowed to see each other if it’s just the two of them.’

Harry scrunched up his nose, just as Derek parked the car in front of a nice looking house. The door opened instantly, Stiles and Scott running down the stairs, enveloping Harry in a tight double sided hug that gave him trouble breathing. At least the girls were a little gentler.

Ϟ

They spent a nice afternoon in Allison’s garden.

But nobody knew anything that was happening with the Order, not even Stiles.

So, instead, they talked about how Stiles and Derek got their driver's’ licenses, about how Mr. Argent trained Allison a lot harder, after what happened at the Ministry, about how Lydia was also training her powers, with the help of the Hale pack Emissary, which was also Scott’s boss, the local vet.

That, at least, made Harry laugh. It was something.

At one point, Stiles wordlessly extended his phone to Harry. He took it, frowning, seeing that there was an e-mail opened on it.

The frown disappeared when he realized it was from Hermione, and that it was addressed to him.

> _Dear Harry,_
> 
> _I miss you so much. I wish I could have been there for you this past summer, and I wish I could be there with you now. But, even in my absence, I hope you have a good time with the Hales. You deserve a break and from what Stiles tells me, that's exactly what’s in plan for you next._
> 
> _We’ll see each other soon. And you better be prepared, because I am going to hug you so tightly, I’ll leave bruises._
> 
> _Love,  
>  Hermione_

Harry smiled, how could he not?

Still, it didn’t stop him from asking the question. As they were driving back to the Hale house, Harry asked Derek, willing his voice to sound even.

‘Why am I here?’

Derek didn’t even look at him, but his hands tightened their grip on the steering wheel, and he sighed.

‘Because I’m sure you had a horrible summer, lonelier than ever. And we want to show you that you’re not… alone.’

‘Thank you for that’, Harry whispered. ‘But why… am I staying with you? You and I, we never really…’

He trailed off, not knowing how to say what he was thinking without sounding rude.

‘Mom thought it was going to be painful for you, spending time with such a large and crazy family like ours, after you’ve lost your own.’ Derek still wasn’t looking at him. ‘But Stiles seemed to think otherwise. We listened to him.’

Harry nodded at that, unsure of what to say because, honestly, he didn’t know if Stiles will end up being right or not. He didn’t feel pain, at lunch with the Hales, he just felt awkward. But that might change during the next two weeks.

Derek might have read his mind.

‘If at any time you don’t want to stay with us anymore, just say the word and I’m sure Stiles and the Sheriff will take you in. No questions asked, from any side.’

‘Okay’, Harry nodded.

It made Derek look at him, somewhat softly, before his eyes went back on the road.

‘Now, there are a few unspoken rules about living with werewolves.’

As Derek went on, talking about how everybody heard everything and privacy was very sparse in the Hale house, Harry really didn’t know if he was going to enjoy the next two weeks.

Ϟ

The Hales didn’t have a spare guest room, so Harry slept on a mattress in Derek’s room. He didn’t mind it, Derek’s snores were nowhere near as loud as Ron’s.

The first morning, Harry woke up with Cora sitting on his chest, sweetly asking if he knew how to make pancakes.

‘All the grownups have already left for work, and Der always burns the pancakes.’

Derek, at this, growled lightly, without even bothering to unwrap himself from the cocoon of blankets he slept in.

Cora growled right back, her eyes flashing gold. It wasn’t at menacing as it was adorable.

‘He does, though.’, she whispered to Harry, before her eyes turned to normal, and she was slowly blinking down at him.

‘Please?’, she asked sweetly, the picture of innocence.

‘Sure. Pancakes it is’, he nodded. ‘Can I brush my teeth first?’

Cora left then, in a hurry with a giggle, and Harry took an extra minute before getting out of bed.

‘She’s manipulating you, you know’, Derek said mildly. ‘Using her cuteness to get what she wants.’

‘I am aware’, Harry yawned. ‘But she _is_ very cute. And you get pancakes out of it.’

That made Derek get out of bed too, promising he knew how to make good tea.

Ϟ

The last two weeks of summer went by in a blur. Harry felt like he did absolutely nothing productive. Sure, he helped set the table and wash the dishes when Mrs. Hale asked him to, and he usually ended up making breakfast for Cora and Derek in the mornings, but that was it.

He spent the days reading a lot, having gotten permission from Derek’s dad to raid their library. Sometimes, he stayed inside, sprawled on the couch with Cora watching tv by his side, or in Derek’s room, sitting side by side on the bed as they each read their own books. Other times, they’d all pack their books (coloring books, in Cora’s case) and snacks, and they’d head out into the Preserve, spending a couple of hours in the sun.

Those days, Derek, despite her protests, trained with Cora. Well, he called it training, but from where Harry was sitting, it was more like play-fighting. Sure, Derek would give his little sister tips about how to spread her legs and use her speed, not just her strength, but he was grinning most of the time, and it always ended with Cora sprawled on Derek’s chest, shrieking in delight as her older brother tickled her.

In the evenings, they’d meet up with someone from the pack.

Most times it was Stiles, who just showed up at Derek’s bedroom door and came in without knocking, always startling Harry. Stiles was usually already talking, and Harry always glared at Derek for not letting him know he was coming.

One time, they spent a couple of hours with Scott at the vet clinic. Harry did nothing else but cuddle the three lab puppies that were just a few weeks old, Scott said. Meanwhile, Derek went straight to a certain cage, picking up a black cat. It started mewing instantly, and when Derek cuddled it close to his chest, the cat started purring. Apparently, she’s been at the shelter for a few months, and Derek was the only one she didn’t scratch.

Lydia showed up to the Hale house one evening too, and they all spent a few hours going over the charms and spells they learned in the past year at school. While she did stay for dinner, Lydia spent that time talking in whispers and giggles with Laura and Cora.

The truth was, Harry still felt awkward. Not with Derek and Cora, but with the rest of the Hales, Laura and the parents. Sometimes, Mrs. Hale looked at Harry with pity in her eyes, and sometimes, Mr. Hale looked like he was assessing Harry. Laura wasn’t rude or anything, per say, she was just very intense and, more often than not, it made Harry feel uncomfortable. And neither one of them said anything about Voldemort, the Order, or whatever was happening outside of the little Hale bubble Harry was living in.

He hated it, all the attention and lack of information, but Derek was always there to catch his family’s attention and redirect it away from him. Harry wanted to say he had gotten close to Derek in the past weeks, but the truth was, he didn’t.

They didn’t really talk all that much. Sure, Harry knew now that Derek respected his parents and that he loved his sisters somewhat fiercely, he knew now how Derek looked when he was laughing with Cora and blushing when Laura teased him. But that was it.

Until a few days before the end of summer vacation. Next morning they were going to London, staying there for a few days, set on buying books and getting ready for the new year. But until then, they spent the last day in Beacon Hills, with the whole pack, in the Preserve. Everyone was there, including Allison and her dad. Harry had a good time, but he must have missed something happening, because later in the night, when he got out of the shower, he heard shouting coming from Derek’s room, and it didn’t take long to recognize Stiles’ voice.

Harry froze in place, to be honest. He just stood in the middle of the hallway, in his pajamas, clutching to his wet towel, not wanting to go into the room but unable to move away, either. He heard what Stiles was saying, but he didn’t really understand what he was talking about.

He startled when someone grabbed a hold of his hand. It was Cora.

She didn’t say anything, just shook her head and started pulling him away. They went to the kitchen, after passing the living room where Derek’s parents were watching tv with the volume way too high.

‘Make us some tea?’, Cora asked sweetly, and of course Harry did.

When he sat down next to her at the table, both of them with a hot cup of tea in their hands, Cora plastered their shoulders together so that she could whisper in his ear, clearly not wanting Derek to hear.

‘Mom says they love each other a whole lot, that’s why they fight so loud.’

Harry gulped. ‘Do they fight a lot?’

Cora shook her head. ‘Only sometimes. It’s always bad, like this, but they always make up.’

He had no idea what to say to that, so he said nothing. Cora didn’t seem to mind.

A few minutes later, Stiles left, not saying a word to anyone, slamming the front door shut. He then opened it again, apologized for slamming it, and gently closed it behind him.

Harry lingered downstairs with Cora for a while, but eventually, he made his way to Derek’s bedroom. The wolf was sitting in the middle of the bed, already in pajamas, reading an alarmingly thick book.

‘I can go sleep on the couch’, Harry hesitantly said. ‘If you wanna be alone.’

Derek shook his head and said nothing else for the next hour, as they both kept reading. And after they shut the lights, it still took a long while for Derek to say something.

‘We were fighting about Allison.’

Harry sat up at that, just so he could see the outline of Derek’s face. ‘What about Allison?’

‘Not exactly about Allison’, Derek winced. ‘But about me.’

‘You don’t have to tell me’, Harry felt the need to say, because it was clear the wolf didn’t want to talk.

‘But you want to know.’

There was no denying it, really, so Harry nodded, making Derek sigh.

‘The Argents used to be werewolf hunters. Since there were werewolves on this earth, Argents hunted them. You have to understand, I… we grew up thinking the Argents were worse than Voldemort.’

Harry snorted at that, but turned serious quickly when he saw the look in Derek’s eyes.

‘But that’s not the case anymore, right?’, Harry tried. He was pretty sure it wasn’t. ‘Allison is in Scott’s pack now.’

Derek shook his head. ‘You know, we only ever met Scott and Stiles when Scott got bit. Before third year.’

Harry’s jaw dropped. ‘So everything you told us happened…’

‘Yeah’, Derek nodded. ‘It hasn’t been that long. And, just before that…’

He took a deep breath before continuing. ‘Kate Argent was Allison’s aunt. When they moved here, she came along, not planning to stay forever. I met her, not knowing she was an Argent. We met in the woods, and she … treated me like I was normal.’

Something very cold slithered down Harry’s spine, not just because of the words Derek said, but because of the guilty and broken look in his eyes.

‘She used me and she tried to burn the house down’, Derek closed his eyes. ‘She trapped us in using mountain ash and she started the fire.’

‘Oh god’, Harry whispered. Derek ignored him.

‘Stiles and Scott saved us. I don’t even know why they came, but Scott caught Kate, knocked her out, and Stiles broke the mountain ash and called his dad and the fire department.’

It took a while for Harry to wrap his head around it, but Derek kept silent and ignored how Harry was staring at him.

‘You feel guilty. And you’re afraid an Argent is going to try to hurt your family again, so you don’t trust them. Especially Allison, who’s close to Scott.’

Derek shook his head. ‘It’s not exactly like that. I know we can trust Allison and her father, I _know_ they’re nothing like Kate. They’ve both proven themselves time and time again. It’s just that sometimes… I forget.’

‘And that was why Stiles was screaming bloody murder?’

‘He thinks I do it on purpose’, Derek said in a whisper. ‘He thinks I do it because I keep blaming myself for what almost happened.’

‘And do you?’, Harry raised an eyebrow.

‘Yes’, Derek said quickly. ‘No’, he sighed. ‘I don’t know.’

They were silent for a while.

‘I get it’, Harry said, ‘I mean, I understand it. But… Stiles was exaggerating. Right? I mean, I could hear him screaming from the kitchen.’

Derek smiled at that. ‘He wasn’t actually… defending Allison. He was… trying to fix me.’

Harry blinked, not understanding it.

‘This guilt is eating at you, Derek’, he quoted Stiles, ‘you’re not to blame for anything, nothing happened, stop blaming yourself, it’s holding you back, you deserve to be happy.’

Harry felt like he finally understood something very important about Derek. But he also understood something about Allison.

‘That’s why she was so mad last year, when I didn’t tell you about Umbridge. Because Kate lied to her and-‘

‘Yeah’, Derek nodded. ‘Probably.’

Harry shook his head, forcing himself to focus back on Derek. ‘I wanna say that it’s not your fault, but I don’t think you’d listen to me.’

Derek smiled, a bit.

‘So I’m just going to say something I know for sure is true.’

The wolf raised an eyebrow.

Harry grinned. ‘Stiles is always right. Unless Hermione is in the room, then it’s a 50-50 shot.’

Derek laughed loudly at that, and it was then when Cora came into the room, declaring she was going to have a sleepover with them before they left for school, crawling into bed next to Derek and snuggling close to him, but not before giving Harry a very sloppy kiss on the forehead.

Nothing else was said that night, but Harry would be lying, if he said he didn’t go to bed feeling good about the two weeks he spent at the Hale house.

And in the morning, when they met up with the pack to go to London together, Harry paid very close attention to the way Stiles hesitantly smiled at Derek, and the way Derek shook his head, before wrapping a hand around Stiles’ shoulders and steering him down the road, acting like nothing was wrong and like nothing happened the night before.

‘Oh yeah’, Laura said, coming out of nowhere to Harry’s side. ‘You’re starting to see it.’

‘Are they seeing it?’, Harry raised his eyebrows at her.

Laura shrugged. ‘Beats me. I just wish they’d hurry up with it.’

Harry couldn’t help but think of Hermione and Ron, then. Because that was a thought he had about his two best friends often. And now he knew it’d be a thought he’d have about Stiles and Derek just as often.

Ϟ

They met up with everyone at 12 Grimmauld’s Place. While Sirius’ absence hurt Harry, the fact that he got to see all his friends again made it easier. But then, Hermione and Ron started explaining about what was happening in the world, about Death Eaters attacking not only Diagon Alley, but the muggle world as well. It was horrible, and Harry wasn’t even aware of it.

And that first night, Dumbledore came. Smiling kindly at the pack, hiding his blackened hand from everyone else, Apparating Harry away.

He didn’t like Slughorn very much. But he couldn’t say no to a request from Dumbledore.

Ϟ

Shopping in Diagon Alley was incredibly depressing, but Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes was the best place on Earth. Derek was the only one who seemed to not enjoy it, sitting straightfaced all the time they were in there and glaring harshly every time Stiles showed him something.

Once again, Harry found himself thinking about Stiles and Derek, and about Ron and Hermione. He wasn’t so sure about Ron and Hermione anymore, considering how Ron’s breath caught every time Lydia stepped into the room. But once again, those thoughts quickly flew out of his head, when he caught sight of Draco and his mother.

‘We should tell Stiles’, Hermione said anxiously. ‘Have him keep an eye on Malfoy.’

Harry nodded, knowing it wasn’t going to do much good. But it was better than nothing. And nothing is exactly what he got from spying on Malfoy on the train. Well, nothing relevant and a broken nose.

Ϟ

Harry still didn’t like Slughorn very much, but he had to admit his first Potion class was entertaining. The potions were cool, it was hilarious to watch both Hermione and Stiles struggling with the Draught of the Living Death, and, honestly, Harry felt good tucking Felix Felicis in his pocket. He may have cheated because of the Half Blood Prince’s help, but finders keepers.

Ϟ

It’s safe to say that seeing Dumbledore’s memory of the day he met Tom Riddle rattled Harry to his core. He felt pity, which surprised him to no end. He told everyone else, and they all seemed to have the same reaction, except for Derek and Stiles.

The wolf’s expression was emotionless, so much so that Harry thought Derek was trying really hard to maintain it. Stiles, on the other hand, looked annoyed.

‘Cool motive!’, he said overly cheerful. ‘Still murder!’

He then all but marched out of there, anger clear in the way his footsteps slapped on the floor. Derek wordlessly got up and followed him out, a lot calmer than Stiles.

‘What do we do?’, Hermione asked, so uncertain that Ron put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

‘You don’t do anything’, Harry said with a lot more strength than he felt.

Ϟ

‘It’s too silent’, Stiles hissed one day at lunch. ‘Nothing bad is happening.’

Everyone gave him the stink-eye, except for Derek, who didn’t even look up from his book.

‘You’re paranoid.’, he said in a straight voice.

‘Yes I am!’, Stiles all but yelled. ‘And for good reason, too.’

Harry sighed. ‘Nothing on Malfoy?’

Stiles shook his head, seething. ‘He’s plotting something, that much is clear. But I can’t figure out what.’

‘I’m sure-‘, Hermione tried, but Stiles cut her off with a sharp look.

‘You’re not sure of _anything_. All we have are suppositions and possibilities. And that’s the problem, isn’t it? We know _nothing_ for sure.’

‘We’re sure he’s up to something’, Harry said.

‘But what?’, Stiles said desperately.

‘You need a break’, Derek said out of nowhere. He put a hand on Stiles’ shoulder, but it didn’t calm the boy much.

‘We’re going to Hogsmeade this weekend.’, the wolf went on, making Stiles glare.

‘I’m taking you to Hogsmeade this weekend.’, Derek said with a sort of challenge in his voice, that made Stiles falter, slightly, and had both Harry and Hermione raising their eyebrows.

Stiles said nothing else on the subject of Malfoy or Voldemort, but he didn’t say ‘no’ to Derek either.

Ϟ

Harry was curious to watch Stiles and Derek on what seemed like a date in Hogsmeade, but he didn’t get the chance to even see them, because Katie was attacked.

Katie was attacked, accidently, in a plot to kill Dumbledore.

Harry was certain it was Malfoy. Of course, neither Snape nor McGonagall believed him.

Ϟ

Later that evening, Harry couldn’t push Malfoy away from his head.

But Ron wanted to talk about Ginny and Dean, and Allison and Scott, and Stiles and Derek, and Hermione and Lydia and Ginny and Harry wanted him to shut up.

That night, he dreamt of Malfoy hurting Ginny and he woke up angry like never before.

Ϟ

Slughron’s club was the most ridiculous thing Harry ever did.

Hermione by his side was a breath of fresh air, but even that was brief. Stiles somehow got in, and even if he spent the entire time making low-key fun of the professor, even that didn’t lift Harry’s morale.

He didn’t feel like he was doing a good job in befriending Slughorn. He didn’t know why Dumbledore wanted Harry to do it, anyway.

Ϟ

He thought that Ron making the quidditch team would be a good thing. And it was, briefly. They won the first game, and it was mostly Ron’s doing.

But during that game, Lydia got together with Jackson Whittermore, one of the most popular Slytherins.

As an instant reaction, Ron got together with Lavender, in the middle of the common room, to the sound of everyone cheering them on.

Harry wordlessly followed Hermione out, didn’t deny his feelings when she asked him about Ginny, and held her as she cried.

He had thought that maybe, with Lydia in the picture, maybe Hermione would have managed to move past her infatuation with Ron. But, thinking about Ginny, Harry realized that was an idiotic thing to believe.

Ϟ

At Slughorn’s Christmas party, Harry amused himself with helping Hermione hide from Cormac, with watching Stiles and Derek low-key flirt and high-key banter, and with the usual easy conversation he had with Luna.

But then Malfoy was caught sneaking in, and Harry lost all the good spirits he had.

Nobody thought that Snape making an unbreakable vow with Draco’s mother was important. Nobody except for Stiles, who got a glint in his eyes and promised Harry he will research.

Ϟ

Christmas break was spent at the Burrow, with several people from the Order telling Harry that he isn’t seeing things straight, that he should calm down and not focus on Malfoy so much.

It was also filled with Ginny, always in Harry’s periphery, always close enough to touch but he never actually managed to do it.

At least Mr. Weasley told Harry about the Vanishing Cabinets. He wanted to pass that information to Stiles as well, but they were all followed, there was still no safe way of communicating.

And for reasons Harry didn’t know and felt too awkward to ask, nobody from the pack visited that Christmas. Not the kids, not the parents in the Order.

It made Harry feel anxious.

Ϟ

And then the Death Eaters attacked. Bellatrix taunted Harry, singing Sirius’s name.

He didn’t get to hurt her, and the Death Eaters burned down the Burrow.

And when he got to school, he found out that they burned the Hale house too.  Nobody was hurt, and they were staying with the Sheriff or with Melissa McCall, until the house was rebuild.

But Harry felt a dark pit growing in his stomach, because these events changed things.

Ron seemed to want to spend as much time he could by Ginny’s side, and most times, she let him. He wrote to his parents a lot more often than before, mundane, useless things, because he was sure the letters were tracked. But he wrote to them every week, and he even wrote to his older brothers now, even Percy.

Derek was… Harry didn’t know what or how he was, but it was clear that the wolf was detaching himself. Even if he still sat with Scott’s pack and with Harry and his friends, he barely talked to them anymore. Sure, he wasn’t a talkative person to begin with, but Harry now spent days without hearing Derek’s voice. Everybody was concerned, nobody more than Stiles, who spent as much time plastered to Derek’s side as he could.

Because he knew, of what happened to Kate, Harry tried to talk to Derek. It didn’t go very well, considering the wolf didn’t even say a word, he just shook his head, clenched his jaw and ran away from Harry.

He felt more anxious than ever. He knew _something_ was coming, he knew Malfoy was directly involved in it.

It didn’t help much.

Ϟ

What did help, was Dumbledore coming back from his travels and showing Harry a memory of Slughorn’s, Riddle asking him something, the teacher getting mad and refusing to answer.

Dumbledore said the memory was tampered with, and that they needed to see the unaltered version. At least now Harry had a definitive mission.

Of course, he screwed it up and now, Slughorn knew what he and Dumbledore were trying to do.

Ϟ

After Ron almost died, after another attempt at Dumbledore’s life, everybody was on high alert.

But nobody as much as Stiles.

Harry only realized it at breakfast, one day, when he actually _looked_ at Stiles, for the first time in what seemed like forever.

As Hermione was awkwardly trying to explain to Ron why Lavender broke up with him, Harry stared across the hall at Stiles.

To say that the other boy was tense was an understatement. Stiles looked like he was expecting a dragon to fly into the mess hall and attack them all, and he looked like he was very prepared to defeat the dragon all on his own.

There were dark bags under his eyes, his clothes were rumpled and he wasn’t eating. He was drinking, probably coffee, and he was reading out of three different books.

Derek came by his side, startling Stiles by putting a hand on his shoulder. For a second, Harry saw Stiles’ entire body relax, but the relapse was gone quickly. The boy tensed again, and shrugged Derek’s hand away, making the wolf’s hopeful expression falter. Stiles said something that clearly hurt Derek, before grabbing his things and all but running away.

Harry’s eyes met Derek’s across the hall.

‘Stiles is not okay’, Harry said, knowing the wolf will hear him perfectly.

Derek shook his head.

‘Are you?’, Harry asked next.

It took a moment or two, but Derek shook his head, also leaving the hall.

Because Harry was still looking at him, he saw Katie come into the hall, and he wasted no time to run to her side.

She didn’t remember anything, but she stared at Draco, which was enough of an answer for Harry.

Ϟ

He realized he made a huge mistake the second blood started pouring out of Malfoy’s chest.

Draco would have died if Derek and Stiles hadn’t been there. The wolf did some quick spellwork, managed to stop the bleeding, as Stiles got Snape, who knew the counterspell for _sectumsempra_.

If Harry could, he would have felt pity for Draco. For the way he was crying, and for what he did to him.

But he couldn’t feel pity, not when he saw the outline of a Dark Mark, stark black against Draco’s wet, white shirt.

Ϟ

Everybody was supportive, but they also insisted he should get rid of the Half-Blood Prince’s potion book.

It was Stiles’s words that convinced him to do it.

‘This war is going to rot our souls. But not like this, man. Not like this.’

Ginny went with Harry to the Room of Requirement. She also kissed him and even though he felt like he was floating in that moment, he couldn’t be happy about it.

Because he knew there were terrible times ahead, and he knew distance was the only way to keep Ginny safe.

Ϟ

‘Still no luck with Slughorn, then, I take it?’, Ron asked, and Harry’s mind short wired.

Finally, an idea!

He drank the Felix Felicis and felt like he was floating, again. This time, he embraced the feeling.

Harry left Hermione and Ron behind and followed the road the potion laid out for him.

By the end of the night, he had Slughorn’s real memory and Dumbledore and he had destroyed two of the Horcruxes. It didn’t feel like a step forward. 

Ϟ

The next morning, before breakfast, Harry lead Hermione and Ron to the Charms classroom where they used to train for the Triwizard Tournament, where Scott and his pack were already waiting.

As Harry explained what he found out, the color drained from all of their faces.

Hermione was clutching to Ron’s hand and he didn’t even seem aware she was doing it. Allison and Lydia were all but sitting in each other’s lap, Scott had pushed his and Derek’s shoulders together and Stiles… he had a panic attack.

It was horrible to watch, such a strong person, like they all knew Stiles was, lowering himself to the floor, rendered terrified and unable to do the most basic of things, like breathe.

Scott tried to help his best friend. He took Stiles’ hand and brought it to his chest, ordering Stiles to breathe with him. It didn’t work too well, even though Harry saw Scott’s veins turning black, a clear sign that he was taking away some of Stiles’ pain.

And then Derek startled everyone, by all but pouncing on Stiles, putting a hand over his mouth, pinching his nose. It was clear the boy couldn’t breathe, and he panicked even harder, staring at Derek with wide, terrified eyes.

‘You know I would never hurt you’, Derek told him strongly, ‘so calm down!’

Somehow, it worked. Stiles, although still sweating and with tears in his eyes, he was able to breathe again, and he collapsed against Derek’s chest, still clutching to Scott’s hand.

‘How did you do that?’, Stiles rasped out.

‘Lydia read somewhere that holding your breath can stop a panic attack.’

Derek’s ears were tinged red, and for a fleeting moment, Harry felt like laughing at the sight of the big bad werewolf blushing because his crush was still leaning against his chest.

But then Stiles sobered up, and pushed both Derek and Scott away, looking to Harry.

‘You know what Horcruxes are’, he said, unaware he even figured it out. ‘You’ve read everything you've found on them.’

Stiles nodded. ‘There’s a reason I’m not allowed in Mr. Hale’s dark arts section.’

‘And that’s why you’re…’

Harry wanted to say ‘terrified’. But he didn’t need to.

Stiles nodded.

‘Dumbledore found another one’, Harry went on. ‘He asked for my help to destroy it.’

‘I’m coming with you’, Stiles said in a lowered voice.

There were several people who yelled ‘no’. Derek and Scott, Lydia and Hermione.

Harry didn’t. ‘I don’t know if Dumbledore will agree to it.’

‘He will’, Stiles seemed convinced.

Of course, both Scott and Derek said that if Stiles is going, so will they. Stiles turned his back around and whispered something, that only the wolves could hear. Somehow, it made them back down.

Hermione tried to join Harry as well. But one look between him and Ron, and the other boy was quick to hold her back.

Harry didn’t say goodbye. He said he’ll see them at lunch, and wordlessly lead Stiles to the Astronomy tower, where Dumbledore was already waiting.

He didn’t seem surprised to see Stiles there. Not exactly.

‘I was expecting you to show up with one of the wolves’, he told Harry, amused.

‘I’m a better wizard than they are’, Stiles said without any shame.

Dumbledore didn’t correct him.

Ϟ

In the end, it didn’t matter how good of a wizard Stiles was. How good of a wizard Harry was.

How good of a wizard Dumbledore was.

He still died. Snape still killed him.

Ϟ

As Harry was crying over Dumbledore’s unmoving body, he absently heard Stiles promise to hurt Draco Malfoy if it’s the last thing he did.

He heard Hermione crying. He heard McGonagall asking, desperately, what happened.

He heard, over and over again in his head, Dumbledore telling him _trust me_.

His heart broke, but Harry hadn’t lost his wit. Before Ginny dragged him away from the body, Harry took the Horcrux.

Fat load of help that was. The Horcrux was a fake.

Ϟ

There was no decision, on Harry’s part. He knew he will not return to Hogwarts, the hunt for Voldemort's Horcruxes was more important.

Hermione’s statement didn’t surprise him either, not exactly. He hoped she and Ron will be willing to help him. And of course they were.

What did surprise Harry was the pack’s reaction.

‘Sorry, dude. We have to stay back.’, Stiles smiled.

‘Yeah, we would totally come with’, Scott nodded, ‘but we still have some things to do back home.’

‘You’ve got this’, Derek went as far as winking at him.

Harry was mildly confused, but he didn’t ask.

Ϟ

‘Potter’, McGonagall said strongly, stopping him from leaving Dumbledore’s office.

‘I don’t know everything that happened, I am aware. Neither you nor Mr. Stilinski were very forthcoming.’ Her voice turned gentler, then. ‘But I know you both did all you could. And I know that together with Albus, you were doing something no student should ever be asked to do.’

Harry had to look away. ‘Is there a point to this?’

His voice had never sounded so cold.

‘If you should have the need to talk to someone…’

Harry moved to leave.

‘You should know’, McGonagall insisted, ‘Professor Dumbledore … you meant a great deal to him.’

Fighting back tears, Harry looked at the portrait of Dumbledore, sleeping in his chair. Sleeping, not dead.

Harry pushed down his anger and tried leaving the room, again.

‘Harry’, the older woman said gently. ‘Whatever you do, don’t push your friends away. They’re the strongest asset you have.’

On one hand, Harry was angry that she thought his friends were an _asset_. On the other hand, he was angry that she thought he didn’t know that.

‘Professor’, he said in a shaky tone, ‘my friends are the _only_ asset I have, at this point.’

As he finally walked out, he heard her say a distressed ‘Be safe, Potter’.

And that, that sounded like the biggest joke to Harry. There was no way he was going to be safe.

Not when he had to kill Voldemort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy sunday, my lovelies! How ya doin? :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the first time, Harry didn't return to Hogwarts when the new year started. Instead, he ran away, looking for the rest of the Horcruxes. He didn't run alone.

Summer was… uneventful.

Harry spent his time locked in his room, obsessively reading every spellbook and charms manual he had. He put his backpack in the middle of the floor, and he kept adding things to it, second guessing and taking some of them out, eventually putting them back in.

He gave his aunt money and politely asked her to go out and buy him a pair of sturdy boots, a sleeping bag and a warm wind jacket.

That’s when the Dursley’s realized something was wrong.

The next day, Remus and Tonks came around and explained everything. Tonks started, being kind about it. It didn’t work, so Remus took over, harshly telling Uncle Vernon that he and his family will die if they don’t leave.

Still, it took a while for Harry’s uncle to be convinced.

Petunia spent the entire time staring at Harry.

‘What are you going to do?’, she finally asked him.

‘He’ll be safe’, Remus said. ‘Under the Order’s protection.’

‘That means nothing to me’, she snapped, ‘considering what I lost the last time one of you Marauders said that.’

It was the first time in 17 years Petunia ever willingly said something even remotely connected to Harry’s parents. It was also the first time she said the word _Marauders,_ admitting that she did, in fact, knew Remus before today.

It startled Harry into silence, everyone else as well. But their hearts weren’t beating as fast as his, probably.

Vernon said his wife’s name with surprising gentleness, but she ignored him, staring Harry down with a very strong and angry look.

‘No, you’re still their son. _His_ son. You won’t sit around and watch everyone else fighting.’

Harry looked down, surprised by the tears that were threatening to spill.

Petunia sighed, deeply, and ordered Vernon to start packing.

The rest of the day was spent in silence, but before they left, Petunia leveled Harry with a look.

‘Don’t make the same mistake your parents did. Don’t let your guard down.’

‘You’ll be safe’, Harry managed to say. ‘I promise you will.’

‘I know’, she breathed out. ‘But you won’t.’

She looked like she wanted to say more, but she just shook her head and coldly told him to call when it’s all over.

And then they were gone, and Harry was left alone in the silent house that never felt like home.

Ϟ

He had a night to himself, time which Harry spent on the floor of his room. He unpacked and packed his backpack a couple of times, almost compulsively checking that he had everything he needed. He did.

Harry also spent the night thinking.

Without even wanting it, he went through every memory he had since the moment that first Hogwarts letter appeared in the mail for him.

There were a lot of memories, some bad, some good, some horrible, some incredible.

When the sun started peeking behind the curtains, Harry was sure of one thing and one thing only. Whatever happened next, no matter how horrible the fight will be, Harry was certain that Voldemort had to die. Not because Harry wanted him to, not because he was evil and had to pay.

No, Voldemort had to die so that everyone else could live.

Harry wasn’t doing this for himself, he wasn’t about to fight a war because of his ego, or because of his parent’s memories or because it’s what everyone expected him to do.

Harry was only doing this for his friends, for the people he cared for, to make sure they will have a safe life ahead of them.

Ron and Hermione, whether or not they’ll figure their relationship out or not. Ginny, happy and smiling, with laughter lines between her freckles. All the Weasley’s, happy around the dinner table.

Scott and Allison, happily holding hands out in the open. Stiles and Derek, side by side regardless of the nature of their relationship. Lydia, accomplished and settled. The Hales, running around the Preserve on the full moon.

If they got to live, if they got to be happy and have long lives, then everything and anything Harry had to do from now on will be worth it.

Ϟ

Loosing Moony, it hurt Harry, yes. It also helped him learn to detach himself from his emotions. He couldn’t afford to be as devastated now as he was when Dumbledore died.

The luxury to mourn the dead was lost in a war.

Ϟ

Being back at the Burrow felt surprisingly nice. Seeing everyone running around in preparation for the wedding, everyone focusing on that instead of anything else, focusing on Bill and Fleur, it was a relief for Harry.

George also helped. Being the only one hurt in the fight, it seemed like he was a man on a mission, to make stupid jokes that got everyone laughing in exasperation.

It felt very nice, to hear everyone laughing.

It also felt like a goodbye. He tried his best to not let it show, and thankfully, because everyone was so focused on the soon to be newlyweds, they didn’t spare Harry a second glance.

Except for Ron and Hermione, who knew what was going through his head and in his heart. They smiled at Harry, a lot. It made him feel marginally better.

Then there was Ginny, who made Harry feel a lot of things. A whole list of things that he couldn’t afford to think about because he knew it will only make his departure more painful. But it wasn’t a hard thing to realize, that Ginny was deeply embedded into his heart and that Harry will never be able to push her away.

Nor did he want to.

Ϟ

He tried to leave on his own, but Ron didn’t let him. He spoke to Harry with a sort of strength he’s never really shown before. Ron was a strong man, Harry knew that, he has seen it before, time and time again since they were 11 and Ron was volunteering himself to play a dangerous game of wizard’s chess. But this, this was something different. Something more.

‘You think Mad-Eye died for you? You think George took that curse for you? You may be the Chosen One, mate, but this is a whole lot bigger than that. It’s always been bigger than that.’

 _This war is going to rot our souls_ , Stiles once said. Only now did Harry realize that the process has started a long time ago.

He still hesitated, but asked Ron to join him.

‘What, and leave Hermione? Are you mad? We wouldn’t last two days without her.’

Ron was right, of course.

‘Plus’, he went on. ‘There are still things to do before we leave.’

‘No offence’, Harry raised his eyebrows, ‘but I couldn’t care less about a wedding.’

‘I know’, Ron smiled, inexplicably. ‘Wasn’t talking about that.’

The discussion continued, Harry’s anger and desperation spiking, but he wasn’t able to convince Ron.

And now, Harry really didn’t want to do this without Ron. Or without Hermione.

Ϟ

The morning of the wedding was mental, and that was even without Harry still thinking about the fact that Ginny kissed him.

Dumbledore’s will felt like a bloody joke. It left Harry feeling disappointed and angry, no matter how many times Hermione told him that there was a reason for everything Dumbledore did.

‘I don’t know what you’re up to, Mr. Potter, but you can’t fight this war on your own.’, the Minister was dead serious. ‘He’s too strong.’

Harry wanted to laugh, because the entire Ministry wasn’t strong enough either.

Ϟ

The wedding was beautiful and surprisingly fun.

But nothing was as fun as the moment when the Hales arrived, followed closely by Scott, Stiles and his father, Lydia and Allison. Suddenly, Harry found his arms filled with werewolves, Laura and Cora hugging him tightly, with Derek and Scott clapping his shoulders, Stiles grinning wildly at him, Lydia and Allison maneuvering around the werewolves to kiss his cheeks.

Then Ron and Hermione were there, getting pretty much the same treatment.

It felt _right_ , to Harry, being in the middle of this group of people. It felt as right as fighting against Voldemort with Hermione and Ron by his side.

During the wedding, Harry made a point in dancing with his friends. Even if it was just for a song, he twirled Hermione, managed not to step on Lydia’s feet, let Allison lead him, goofed around with Luna, didn’t comment when Ginny hugged him tightly during the dance, held Cora up as he bounced to the rhythm of the music.

He also found out that Dumbledore lived in Godric’s Hollow, but he didn’t get much time to think about it before the message came, and the Death Eaters attacked.

Hermione and Ron found him quickly and kept him from running to Ginny. They had to run away, even if this wasn’t the plan, doing it so out in the open, but they had to run, and the had to do it now. Hermione hesitated.

‘Not yet’, she said desperately, looking around. ‘Not yet.’

And then Derek and Stiles were there, the wolf taking hold of Hermione’s arm.

‘Go’, Stiles all but yelled, his voice breaking, pained eyes not once leaving Derek’s.

Without another word, they Apparated in the middle of London.

As Hermione led them into an alley, as she handed them clothes and Ron marveled at her little purse that was bigger on the inside, Harry couldn’t stop staring at Derek.

‘You didn’t think we’d actually let you do this on your own, did you?’, the wolf smiled a little.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you’, Hermione looked apologetically at Harry, ‘but it was safer this way.’

‘But what about…’, Harry didn’t understand. ‘Stiles said you had to stay back, that there were things you needed to do in Beacon Hills.’

Derek titled his head. ‘Not exactly a lie.’

He then sighed, deeply, and started explaining. ‘My family needs to stay behind and defend our land. They’ll go into hiding, a hidden safe house. The Sheriff and Stiles will keep the town safe, trying to hide everything from the muggles. Lydia shouldn’t have any problems, her parents are muggles and Allison’s father will protect them. Scott’s father will hopefully do the same.’

‘He’s in the Ministry, right?’, Harry remembered seeing him after the Department of Mysteries, after Dumbledore and Voldemort fought.

Derek nodded, pulling a sour face. ‘He’s not much of a father. He left Scott and his mother a long time ago, but the asshole thinks of Scott as an achievement, not as his son. Hopefully, the war will change his mind and he’ll step up. But if he doesn’t, Scott wanted to stay with Melissa.’

That explained some things, Harry thought. Starting with why Scott put his name in the Goblet of Fire, which was a question Harry never got the answer to, until now.

‘How come... Why aren’t you with your family?’, Harry asked in a lowered voice, thinking about Laura sipping butterbeer with Charlie in a corner of the wedding tent, about Cora twirling around in a pretty dress, grinning up at Stiles, about Mr. and Mrs. Hale dancing slowly, smiling at each other and ignoring everyone else around them.

Derek smiled, and Harry could see the love that he felt clearly in his eyes. But then, his eyes flashed, bright blue, and he stared down at Harry with power.

‘Because they don’t need me, right now. But you do.’

Harry had no answer to that. So he just nodded thankfully at the wolf, and took the jeans Hermione handed him.

Ϟ

Fighting those Death Eaters in the coffee shop felt like a preview.  Harry felt like this was going to be their lives from now on.

It wasn’t a good feeling. At all.

But the weight on his shoulders became just the tiniest bit easier to bear when they got to Grimmauld’s Place. Everyone seemed to feel the same, considering how easily Derek fell asleep on an armchair and how Hermione and Ron clearly fell asleep holding hands.

As soon as Harry was up, so was Derek, having heard the change of pace in Harry’s heart when he woke up. The boy got used to it when they shared Derek’s room.

They shared a fond look over their friend’s almost clasped hands and then they both wordlessly got up.

‘You wanna explore?’, Derek whispered.

Harry nodded quickly, and once they got to the first level of the house, they went different ways. Harry, of course, went to Sirius’ room, so it was Derek that found RAB’s room.

And later, in the kitchen, it was Derek that smelled Kreacher hiding in the cupboard.

Clearly, having a werewolf around had its perks.

Ϟ

One of those nights found Harry on the couch, with the Snitch in his hands. He wasn’t paying too much attention to it, though, because he couldn’t seem to look away from Hermione and Ron.

They were at the piano, sitting very close together on the bench. Hermione was trying to teach Ron how to play _Für Elise_ , but she was pretty unsuccessful, considering Ron was spending more time looking at her, rather than at the keys.

Harry's staring was disrupted by Derek lifting his feet off the couch, sitting down and placing the feet back down, in his lap. He raised an eyebrow at Hermione and Ron, throwing Harry a questioning look.

‘I don’t know’, he whispered. ‘I learned not to get involved.’

Derek snorted, but there was something in his eyes. Something very close to longing, that made Harry finally ask. Somewhat.

‘Stiles didn’t look like he wanted to let you leave.’

Derek’s expression instantly closed off into a vicious glare, but as Harry just shrugged at him, smiling innocently, Derek sighed. He closed his eyes, leaning his head back on the couch, and absently wrapped a hand around Harry’s ankle.

But he still didn’t talk.

Harry spared a look at Hermione and Ron, who were still too wrapped up in each other to pay attention to him and Derek, before he nudged the wolf with his free foot.

‘You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but I’m curious. And, you know, I have eyes.’

It took a few beats, but Derek finally spoke, in a low voice, seemingly calm. His eyes were still closed.

‘When I met Stiles and Scott, it was… bad, for a while. We weren’t friends, we were… enemies, almost.’

Harry snorted, unable to picture it. ‘You’re very far from that now’.

Derek smiled, slightly.

‘We worked on it, and with time… we are friends now, they’d take me into their pack without a second hesitation. We understand each other, and know each other and we’d take a bullet for each other.’

This was not brand new information for Harry.

‘It’s different with Stiles, though’, Derek lowered his voice even more. ‘It has always been different with Stiles. He hated me, at first, but even so… At the beginning, we got thrown together into various bad circumstances and we were forced to work together in order to survive. He hated me, he barely knew me, but he never once hesitated in saving me or coming back for me. He mouthed off, suggested they should kill me more than once, but he still came back for me every damn time.’

‘I think that’s in his blood’, Harry ventured to say, because while he had his doubts before, he became certain of this fact on the day Dumbledore died.

‘It is’, Derek nodded, ‘but…’

Harry had to nudge him with his foot again.

‘I don’t know when or how it happened, but somewhere along the way, he became more than just my friend or my pack member. He… centers me, somewhat. My anchor has always been my family, my tether to humanity. Stiles… he helps me be a _person_. Pushes me to talk, to hang out with our friends, forces me to have friends and do my best to keep them around.’

‘That’s nice’, Harry said around a smile. ‘I get it, anyone who spends time with the two of you sees it. But uh… you know I was asking about the gigantic crush you have on him, right?’

Derek opened his eyes at that, looking at Harry with surprise and incredulity.

‘It sounds so bad when you say it like that’, the wolf looked horrified.

Harry snickered. ‘Doesn’t make it any less true.’

Derek sighed and closed his eyes again.

‘I don’t know when it happened, but… yeah, yes, you’re right. I feel something more for Stiles than just friends should.’

Harry hummed. ‘And he feels the same.’

It took a while, Derek clearly hesitating, but in the end, he nodded.

‘I think so, yes.’

‘And something happened recently, hasn’t it? This past summer?’, Harry couldn’t stop himself from insisting, especially now that Derek was actually talking.

‘When we decided I was the one to come with you’, Derek said in a very soft voice, ‘he was so… angry. Because he realized it was the right call, but he didn’t want to let me go. Stiles… said some things.’

The tips of Derek’s ears were red. He didn’t tell Harry what Stiles said, exactly, but Harry got a good guess. It wasn’t some emotional love declaration, that was not Stiles’ style. And considering he was angry at the time, he just probably said how much he cared about Derek and how much he feared losing him.

Looking at Derek now, Harry was able to see that there was still hesitation there. He probably didn’t know if Stiles meant everything he said as a friend, or as something more. The answer was clear to Harry, but apparently not to Derek.

‘And what happened after that?’

‘Nothing’, Derek was quick to shake his head. ‘Nothing _happened_ , but it felt like something could have. And that… that was new.’

Harry knew it would have been a waste of time to try to convince Derek that Stiles did, in fact, return his feelings. Words were never able to convince Derek as well as acts, and at this point, considering he was away from Stiles, there really was no real point to try to solve this issue.

‘Hey’, Harry finally said, ‘I’m sorry you had to leave.’

Derek shook his head. ‘There was nothing that would have made me stay. Not now.’

Harry just sighed for a while.

‘You get it, though.’, Derek said next, confidently, eyes boring into Harry’s. ‘Because you left Ginny, too.’

Harry nodded. But, because he needed to lighten the mood, he also grinned.

‘But I, unlike you, got to kiss her before I left.’

Derek’s eyes grew wide, and something hard hit Harry’s head.

‘That’s my sister you’re talking about!’, Ron said, angrily. ‘I mean, that better be my sister you’re talking about! I mean, no, wait.’

They all lost it by that point, and they were laughing too hard to hear how Ron dug himself out of that one.

The laughter was cut short by the arrival of Kreacher, Dobby and Mundungus. And, surprise! surprise!, he didn’t have the real locket anymore.

Ϟ

Thankfully, Derek could still shift when on Polijuice. Because of that, and of Hermione’s fast thinking, they managed to escape.

As they ran through the Ministry, Yaxley grabbed a hold of Hermione, just as they Apparated. Somehow, as they were in the vortex, Derek managed to not only claw at Yaxley, but he did it as he was still holding on to Harry’s hand, mindful of his claws.

They escaped and they got the Horcrux from Umbridge’s neck, but Ron got splinched. Hermione was quick to try and fix the wound, Derek was quick to take away his pain.

It was only after Ron passed out, that they started putting up the protection spells and the tent.

Ϟ

Ron couldn’t move, so Hermione kept them there for a few long days.

Harry was frustrated. That Ron got splinched, that he was in pain, but also that they had to stay behind because of him. And the radio Ron kept listening to, that ridiculous Potter Watch show, it annoyed Harry beyond belief.

He kept seeing things, horrible things that Voldemort did, torturing Gregorovich and his Death Eathers. Harry was frustrated that he couldn’t block him out, he was just as frustrated as Voldemort was, that he wasn’t finding what he wanted.

And Harry was angry, so _furious_ that they couldn’t destroy the Horcrux.

Hermione was the one who figured out that his anger came from the Horcrux dangling at Harry’s neck. Not all of it, but most of it.

In the end, it was a good thing that they had to stay behind in that forest. Because that way, Stiles managed to catch up with them.

Ϟ

After the night when the Snatchers went right by them, they agreed to move. On foot, because Ron still was too hurt to Apparate, but at least it was something.

In the morning, as they were getting ready to leave, Harry noticed that Derek was distracted. He kept stopping every now and then, freezing for a few seconds, looking wildly around, before he’d sigh and go back to whatever he was doing.

Harry asked if he was okay, if there was something wrong, but Derek just shook his head and said ‘My mind’s playing tricks on me’.

And then Stiles appeared.

At first, Harry just heard footsteps on the forest ground, and he panicked.

He froze and he was glad to see that everyone else had the same reaction. That way, whoever was on the other side of the protection spells couldn’t hear them.

Harry didn’t see anything in the direction the footsteps were coming, it was still pretty dark out. But he heard someone whining.

‘Did it have to be a forest? Stupid twigs are out to get me!’

When Stiles finally came into view, wearing pajama bottoms and several plaid shirts, too many plaid shirts, nobody moved.

Derek jerked his hands, but that was it.

Stiles stopped right at the edge of the spell field protecting them. He whined, again, and pulled out his phone from the backpack he was carrying, clicking on it a couple of times.

‘Damn it, you were supposed to be here, you asshole.’, he closed his eyes and angled his head up. ‘I swear to god Derek, if you lost your pendant, I’m gonna kill you.’

That made Derek move. He pounced, grabbing a hold of Stiles’s arms and dragging him inside of the field.

Stiles yelped, of course, then he screamed, but then he relaxed, hugging Derek very tightly.

‘Thank god I found you’, Stiles was saying over and over again, running his hands over Derek’s back.

The wolf wasn’t moving as much, he had pushed his face into the crook of Stiles’ neck and kept breathing in deeply.

‘Is it him?’, Hermione asked, and only then did Harry realize that it might have been someone who drank Polyjuice to look like Stiles. That’s why Derek was scenting him, Harry remembered him saying that every person had a different scent and even under the potion, that didn’t change.

Derek detached himself from Stiles, but didn’t fully let go.

‘It’s him’, the wolf sounded relieved.

‘How did you find us?’, Hermione asked.

‘GPS tracker’, Stiles waved his phone.

Derek’s hand went to his chest, and Harry only now noticed that he had a silver chain on his neck, probably with a pendant, and he kept it under his shirt.

‘Yup’, Stiles grinned at Derek. ‘Your Christmas present was multitask.’

For a second, Derek smiled, but then his face fell.

‘What happened? Who’s hurt?’, his voice shook on the last word, and Harry thought he wanted to say ‘dead’.

Stiles shook his head, quickly. ‘Nobody, I promise. Scott texted me, they got to the Hales’ hideout safe and sound, and they’re all safe.’

‘What happened?’, Derek asked again.

Stiles put off answering, texting Scott that they were safely reunited, then he shut off his phone, so that it can’t be tracked.

‘What happened?’, it was Harry who asked, stronger.

‘It was alright for a while. We knew they started to round up people who didn’t have wizard parents, but when nobody came, we thought Scott’s dad pulled some strings.’

‘He’s still in the Ministry?’, Derek all but roared, anger clear.

‘Yeah’, Stiles clearly shared the sentiment. ‘It was fine, they stayed away, but then you lot had to sneak into the bloody Ministry of Magic!’

‘We had to’, Hermione said softly. It was enough, because Stiles nodded and went on with his story.

‘The day after that, they came for Scott first. Just Scott, not Melissa, thank god, she was at the hospital and they didn’t get near her. Scott managed to run away. He called the rest of us, and we all met in the Preserve.’

Stiles sighed, running a hand over his face.

‘We waited it out, at first. And when the coast was clear, we went back home. They came after Lydia 10 minutes later and she killed three Death Eaters. They came after my dad after an hour. He got away, I still don’t know how, but he did.’, Stiles sounded proud, but obviously still shaken up.

‘He met up with Lydia and Scott in the Preserve and he called me, and I managed to get into the jeep and leave before they got to me. I’ve been speeding ever since.’

‘And Allison?’, Derek asked with wide eyes.

‘She’s completely fine, the Argents have a sufficiently long history of wizards.’

Nobody said anything, for a while.

‘They’re safe, Derek’, Stiles finally said with conviction, grabbing the wolf’s arm. ‘Your family, Scott and my dad, Lydia, they're safe at the hideout. Allison is halfway through to France right now, and Argent forced Melissa and Lydia’s mom to go with them.’

‘I can’t believe’, the wolf breathed out, ‘that the Sheriff let you out of his sight.’

Stiles snorted, looking down at his shoes, clearly blushing but trying to hide it. ‘It’s not like I gave him a choice.’

Derek’s face did something funny then. It went through a series of unquantifiable emotions, before it settled on something very close to awe. He hugged Stiles again, properly this time.

‘I’m really glad you found us.’, the wolf said, and Harry saw Stiles grin.

He was still grinning when they stopped hugging.

‘So what’s been going on with you?’, Stiles asked easily, looking at Harry.

 ‘We’ll tell you on the way.’, he sighed, turning to Hermione. ‘Should we take the jeep?’

‘Probably a bad idea’, she winced.

Of course, Stiles started protesting about leaving his baby behind, but nobody was actually paying him any attention.

Ϟ

The general mood didn’t improve with Stiles’ arrival.

They were all still afraid, still exhausted. Still frustrated and with no idea how to move on.

There were a lot of silences. Harry spent most of his time alone, at the edge of the protection field, whacking his brain for _something_. Anything. He hoped he had missed something, some piece of the puzzle, something that will show him what to do next.

He couldn’t think of anything.

Ϟ

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that something was up with Ron, something more than just his injury.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that something was up with Stiles, something more than just the fact that he left his pack and family.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Derek was unable to help either of them, though he tried time and time again.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Hermione was running herself into an early grave, always with a book in her hand, always fussing over the boys.

Harry didn’t find it in him to try and change anything.

Ϟ

When Ron was heading towards the tent exit, when he picked up his backpack and sent one last hurtful look towards Hermione, Stiles grabbed a hold of his arm.

‘You’re going to regret this’, Stiles said in a very certain voice.

‘Screw you, mate’, was Ron’s response, angry and spiteful.

And then he was gone and Harry wondered, in that moment, how Riddle felt when he made a Horcrux, because if it was anywhere as hurtful as this, it meant Voldemort was never human to begin with.

Ϟ

It was a long night.

Nobody actually slept, Hermione’s sniffles echoing in the otherwise silent tent. At one point, Stiles wordlessly joined her under the covers. The sniffles didn’t stop, but at least she wasn’t shaking anymore.

In the morning, as they were packing up, Stiles surprised everyone by announcing that the Sword of Gryffindoor wasn’t at Hogwarts.

As he told the story, of the second iteration of Dumbledore’s Army, of Neville, Luna and Ginny resisting against the Death Eaters and as Stiles’ voice turned to an awed one when he talked about the trio trying to steal the sword from Snape’s office, only to find it wasn’t there, Harry felt something very painful in his chest.

He felt heartbreak and terror, desperation and love. So much love for his friends, for Ginny. He probably never loved anyone more than he loved Ginny right now, and the distance between them hurt him so much he started crying.

Nobody said anything about it, as they finished packing and left.

Hermione left one of her scarves behind, with a charm on it, obviously hoping for Ron to come back. Nobody said anything about that either.

Ϟ

It took a few days for something to transpire. A few days of silence, cold and every one of them going over everything and anything they knew.

Harry managed to reveal a message on the Snitch just as Stiles’ yells filled the tent.

‘What do you mean Dumbledore gave that to you?’

Harry kept his mouth shut until Hermione explained about Dumbledore's will and the story book and as Stiles stumbled through a half-arsed explanation about that sign someone drew in the book.

When Harry announced his discovery, everyone stared at him.

‘Am I the only one who’s thinking we should visit Godric’s Hollow?’, Stiles said in a lowered voice.

‘No’, Hermione sighed. ‘What if he hid the sword there?’

‘We’re going’, Harry added.

Derek just nodded.

Ϟ

Seeing the place where his parents died wasn’t what hurt Harry the most, but the fact that he was in the same place where his parents _lived_.

Longing was a familiar feeling, by now. But not like this. Never like this.

Stiles and Derek cleaned the Potter tombstone of snow. Hermione made a Christmas wreath. She also came by his side and held him for a while.

Not a long while, because Stiles pointed out that there was an old woman watching them and Derek added that she smelled dead.

It didn’t stop them from following Bathilda Bagshot.

Ϟ

Harry’s mistake was going upstairs alone with her. Harry’s mistake was going upstairs alone with Voldemort’s snake.

Thankfully, they weren’t hurt.

But they didn’t learn anything helpful either. And Harry lost his wand.

He thought it hurt. But by this point, the loss of his wand really felt like it was the least of his problems.

Ϟ

‘Maybe we should just stay here, Harry. Grow old.’

Hermione was smiling softly at him, too softly for the mess they were in. He had to look away, and his eyes fell upon the tent. He couldn’t see anything inside, but he knew that when he left it, Derek was sleeping on the floor next to the bed Stiles was in, and he knew that Stiles was very close to falling off of it.

He had to look away from the tent, too. But the thought in his head would never escape.

The same thought he had the night before he left Pivet Drive, months ago that felt like an eternity. The same thought they brought him this far, that will guide him to the end.

Harry was only doing this for his friends, for the people he cared for, to make sure they will have a safe life ahead of them. A life free of Voldemort, Death Eaters and dark magic.

There was no way Harry was going to stay here. Not without everyone else, Ron and his family, Scott and his pack, the Hales.

But even so, he had to fight for the rest of them, for Luna and Neville, Seamus and Dean and every single soul that was at Hogwarts, listening to Potter Watch and hoping that Harry wasn't idle.

‘I wish you could do that, Hermione’, he whispered, because he knew that she will follow him to the end of the Earth.

She smiled and pulled out Rita Skeeter’s book on Dumbledore, telling him about the things she read.

He sent her inside to get warm. She did so, but she paused at the lip of the tent, letting out a very feminine giggle.

Stiles must have finally rolled over off his bed and on top of Derek.

Ϟ

That night, as he was keeping watch, the doe came. And Gryffindor’s sword appeared. And Ron came back.

And together, they destroyed the Horcrux.

It wasn’t easy, it was one of the hardest thing Harry had to do. It should have been easy, convincing Ron that he wasn’t in love with Hermione, but Harry knew that he was responsible for a lot of the pain his best friend was feeling. So he tried his best, and it worked.

And his relationship with Ron felt like it was starting to mend. It was the greatest feeling in the world.

Of course, it kinda flew out the window when they went back to the tent and Hermione started screaming bloody murder.

Still, after she calmed down, and Stiles and Derek felt like it was safe enough to hug Ron, Harry couldn’t really help himself. He was still grinning, obnoxiously so, and Hermione turned her glare on him. It didn’t deter Harry. Quite the opposite, considering he winked at Hermione. She rolled her eyes, even as she was blushing.

And then Ron was demanding to know how Stiles got there, and then they all wanted to know how Ron found them again.

Of course, the answer to that was Dumbledore. It frustrated Harry.

Because the things Dumbledore left in his will for them, turned out they were useful. Ron used the Deluminator to make his way back to them and using the story in Hermione’s book, they now had a lead because that symbol kept popping up everywhere, and Hermione and Stiles were certain it will lead them somewhere.

So each of the gifts helped in their quest. Except for the Snitch. What use could they have for Harry’s first Snitch? None.

It frustrated him.

Hermione managed to take the edge off, a little, considering how badly she was acting at still being mad at Ron, and Stiles and Derek were both throwing them pointed looks, which was hilarious to Harry, considering most days, he was the one to throw those pointed looks their way.

Ron gave him a wand. It didn’t feel right, in Harry’s hand, but it worked, and he needed it.

That night, he kept the first watch, practicing with his new wand for a few hours. When he went into the tent, intent on waking Derek up for his watch, he found a somewhat familiar sight.

Ron was sleeping on the floor next to Hermione’s bed, their joined hands resting on his chest, Derek and Stiles mirroring their positions perfectly.

What Harry felt in that moment was a duality. On one hand, he felt immense joy, that his friends were together again, and selfish joy, that they all came back to his side in order to fight. But on the other hand, Harry felt immense pain: for his friends, not being able to live their proper love stories in a time out of war, and for himself, not even having Ginny by his side now.

He didn’t wake Derek up for his shift, Harry wordlessly went back outside and practiced with his new wand until the sun came up and Stiles brought him a cup of very strong coffee.

Ϟ

Harry felt very uneasy in Mr. Lovegood’s messy living room. He could tell Derek was sharing the sentiment, because of the way his fists were clenched. Stiles’ eyes kept skipping out the windows and Hermione tensed when Mr. Lovegood told her that Luna wasn’t home.

Still, they all listened to the story of the Deathly Hallows. It wasn’t much, Harry thought, a dark wizarding fairytale. But something stirred inside of Harry’s chest, when Mr. Lovegood said, reverently, _The Cloak of Invisibility_. Harry was sure he had it in his backpack, and judging by the way Hermione and Stiles were looking at him, they agreed.

Ron was the one who suggested they’d leave, but he was also the one who noticed Mr. Lovegood wasn’t boiling any water for their tea. When he stopped them from leaving, Derek took a step towards him and Stiles took a step in front of Harry.

It was heartbreaking, seeing Lovegood cry for his daughter, and Harry was scared for Luna, but he also felt anger, the same type of anger Stiles displayed when he swore loudly.

When Lovegood said Voldemort’s name, neither of them hesitated. They all fell to the floor and hurried to grab their hands, Apparating away.

And when they came face to face with snatchers, once again, nobody hesitated. They all ran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for that cliffhanger..................But there's just one more chapter left and it'll come your way soon enough :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end.

Hermione’s quick thinking delayed the inevitable. For now, the snatchers didn’t recognize him. He saw something after Hermione hexed him, he saw that Voldemort was after the Hallows, or at least after the Elder Wand. He didn’t really have time to do much, but tell Hermione about it.

Derek could have easily run away, being a lot faster than a human, but he didn’t. As soon as snatchers had their hands around Stiles’ wrists, Derek came running back. He tried to fight them all off, but they were too many. Upon Greyback’s instruction, Derek’s wrists were tied with wolfsbane soaked rope and Harry could see blood pouring out of them. The wolf didn’t make one sound.

Even if they all gave fake names, they were still taken, to the Malfoy manner no less. The sneer Stiles let out as his eyes laid upon the family was a hateful thing.

Lucius laughed at it. He looked worse for wear, Harry could see it clearly, but he still laughed at the sight of Stiles. It didn’t last long, Bellatrix making Draco identify Harry, and Lucius urging him on.

There was no doubt in Harry’s mind that Draco recognized him. But surprisingly, Malfoy kept his mouth shut. It didn’t matter too much anyway, not after Bellatrix saw Gryffindor’s sword.

Ϟ

They did some sort of spell on the ropes that bound Derek, nobody was able to touch them. That didn’t stop Stiles from trying, over and over again, even after his nailbeds started bleeding. It was only Derek’s soft _please_ that made him stop. Stiles hugged Derek then, tightly, and when they all heard Hermione screaming, he covered the wolf’s ears. It probably didn’t do much.

It was then when Luna came out of the shadows, with Ollivander and a goblin.

To the sound of Hermione’s pained screamed, of Stiles shushing Derek even if the wolf wasn’t crying loudly, of Ollivander’s labored breathing and Luna’s feet anxiously shuffling on the floor, Harry was desperate enough to take out his impossible piece of mirror, and beg for help. He didn’t know if it was actually Dumbledore on the other side, but he didn’t care, as long as it helped them escape.

And it did help, Dobby appearing like Harry’s knight in shiny armor. Well, raggedy armor.

Dobby helped them, and he died for it.

Ϟ

They were safe in Bill and Fleur’s cottage. He buried Doby. They managed to take the wolfsbane rope off of Derek, they cleaned Hermione’s wound, Ollivander and the goblin were resting, Luna was walking around, even if she looked thinner than Harry thought was possible.

And Voldemort took the Elder Wand from Dumbledore’s grave.

Harry mourned for Dobby, and he mourned, once again, for Dumbledore. But then he shut off all of his emotions because he couldn’t afford to feel pain anymore. Not when he felt the end of the war approaching, and not when Voldemort just got stronger.

Ϟ

They stayed at Shell Cottage for a few days, regrouping. Everyone was incredibly subdued, they always kept quiet because Ollivander and the goblin spent a lot of time resting.

So did Luna. Harry was too afraid to ask what happened to her, to ask her how things were back at Hogwarts, how Ginny was. He was terrified of the answers, so he kept his distance from her.

Honestly, Harry kept his distance from everyone. On one hand because he was mourning Dobby but also because he didn’t think he was strong enough to face them yet.

He was terrified of what news Luna could tell him from school, he was scared Bill and Fleur will tell him about the rest of the Weasleys, or about the Hales, he was scared Hermione was going to bring up Dobby’s name.

Harry was terrified he will break down. Properly break down, hit the floor and not get up again.

Stiles saw right threw him. So one day, as Harry was sitting by Dobby’s grave, as he could hear everyone else on the beach, eating cold sandwiches and splashing around in the cold water, Stiles came by Harry’s side, sat down next to him and shoved a cup of very strong coffee in his hands.

‘Nobody will think any less of you if you have a good cry.’

Harry just stared at Stiles, for a while. It took him a long while to figure out what to answer to that.

‘Nobody else is crying. You’re not crying.’

Stiles snorted. ‘Sure I am. Why do you think Derek ended up sharing a bed with me?’

Harry has noticed, yes, that after their first night at the cottage, Derek gave up sleeping on a couch in favor of sharing a very narrow bed with Stiles. Harry thought that maybe the time they shared in the Malfoy’s basement, with Derek bleeding in Stiles’ arms, he thought that prompted the two to finally get together.

‘I have nightmares’, Stiles went on, speaking slowly and in a monotone voice. ‘Night terrors, by this point, and they’ve gotten a lot worse since I came with you, and they’ve gotten to be borderline torture since the manor. I wake up a couple of times every night, sobbing and halfway through a panic attack. Derek helps me come back from that.’

Harry had to look away.

‘ _This war is going to rot our souls’,_ he quoted what the other boy said what felt like ages ago.

Stiles smiled, a bitter thing.

‘To be honest, my soul started rotting the second Scott got bit. And I have a feeling yours started sometime when you were 11.’

Harry didn’t say anything, because there wasn’t any point in denying that.

‘We gotta fight’, Stiles whispered next. ‘We’ve been through so much, we got here and we can’t stop now. So come on’, he knocked their shoulders together. ‘Hermione got a hair from Bellatrix and we have the craziest plan yet.’

Harry wasn’t convinced, but he knew that Stiles was right. They had to keep on fighting. So he looked to the other boy and managed a weak smile.

‘The craziest, huh?’

Stiles’ manic grin wasn’t at all reassuring.

Ϟ

Before they left, Luna hugged Stiles for a long, long while. They were whispering to each other, something that Harry couldn’t hear. Derek heard it perfectly, and he was smiling softly.

‘We’ll see you again before this is over’, Fleur smiled at Harry, her hand wrapped tightly around Bill’s. ‘I’m sure of it.’

‘I really hope you’re wrong’, Harry answered, knowing full well what seeing them again meant.

Luna came by his side, then. She didn’t hug him, but she did squeeze his fingers tightly with hers and she gave him a shockingly sweet kiss on the cheek. She also thanked him.

It confused Harry at first, but the look in her eyes made him understand what she meant. She was thanking him for everything that he’s doing, everything that he’s been doing and everything that he will be doing. Luna thanked Harry for fighting.

It gave him strength. Enough strength to confidently walk into Gringotts, with Hermione looking like Bellatrix Lestrange, Derek, Ron and Stiles looking as Death Eaters, and with the goblin safely hidden with him under the Invisibility Cloak.

Ϟ

‘Man’, Stiles whispered lowly, ‘what does it say about the state of our freaking lives, that we only just barely hesitated at the sight of a full blown Ukrainian Ironbelly?’

‘It’s just a dragon’, Ron countered. ‘And it’s chained.’

‘Like I said’, Stiles rolled his eyes. ‘ _Just_ a dragon.’

‘Bigger fish to fry’, Derek stirred Stiles along.

‘Exactly!’ Stiles waved his hands. ‘The massive dragon doesn’t even make or Top 5 Problems list at the moment.’

‘Mate’, Ron sighed. ‘We all know we’re fucked. Now shut the hell up and move your ass down the corridor to the Death Eater’s vault so we can steal that bloody Horcrux.’

Nobody said anything to that. Except for Hermione, who whispered something about how Mrs. Weasley would wash his mouth with soap.

Ron retaliated by grabbing her hand and pulling her away, deeper into the bank.

He was right, though. And so was Stiles. By this point, their lives were absolutely impossibly mental. But they really didn’t have time to think about it.

Ϟ

When Stiles landed on the dragon, he turned to look with wide eyes at Hermione.

‘That was the hottest thing I have ever seen!’, he yelled, just as Derek landed next to him.

Stiles blinked at the wolf a couple of times, before turning to look at Hermione.

‘Never mind.’, was all he said, but it was enough to make a small laugh appear on both Hermione’s and Harry’s faces. It was highly needed, considering the next moment they were soaring over London on the back of a dragon.

Ϟ

Somehow, by some demented miracle, they managed to escape Gringotts. They were soaking wet in freezing water, the dragon flying away in the distance.

After they swam to shore, Harry told everyone what he saw, as Hermione was pulling out dry clothes from her bag. That Voldemort knew about their chase for Horcruxes, and that one of them was at Hogwarts.

If Stiles thought that the nonchalance they had when faced with the dragon was something, this was probably worse.

Sitting in a circle on a deserted beach, Hermione in her underwear and surprisingly bright pink bra, all the boys down to their boxers, nobody even batting an eye as the discussed going to Hogwarts.

‘Hermione, when have any of our plans ever actually worked?’, Harry glared at her. ‘We plan, we get there, all hell breaks looks.’

The rest of the guys easily agreed with Harry.

‘We _have_ to go’, Derek said, very pointedly.

‘It’s brilliant’, Stiles said with excitement, making everyone stare at him.

He grinned. ‘Dudes. Our friends are there. And I don’t know about you lot, but I am really freaking excited to not be fighting with just you four by my side.’

He had a point. A good point, that made everyone smile, even if they were cold and miserable, and more than just terrified.

‘To Hogwarts, then’, Harry said, making power he wasn’t exactly feeling seep through his tone.

‘At nightfall’, Hermione said with authority.

Ϟ

Harry didn’t mean to listen in on their conversation.

But as Ron was snoring away, as Harry and Hermione sat side by side on a rock, sharing a blanket, Derek and Stiles moved away from them, but they couldn’t really get privacy, the spells they put up preventing them from getting too far.

So Harry and Hermione heard their entire conversation, even if they couldn’t see them.

‘I miss our family’, Stiles started.

It was followed by a very long silence, and when Derek finally spoke, it came out surprisingly shaky.

‘Our family?’

‘Cora must be driving Dad crazy’, they could hear the smile in Stiles’ voice. ‘And I’m willing to bet good money that Lyds and your dad spend their days talking about obscure books on topics nobody understands. Scott’s most definitely miserable, without Allison and without us, and that’s probably driving Laura up the wall.’

It was probably true, Harry thought.

‘ _Our_ family.’, Derek said again.

‘Derek’, Stiles sighed. ‘Look at us. Look at where we are, look at what we’ve done and what we’re about to do. We can’t pretend anymore that this is not happening between us. _I_ can’t pretend anymore.’

Harry would be lying if he said he wasn’t holding his breath. Judging by the way Hermione slid her fingers into his, she probably was in the same predicament.

‘I never wanted to pretend’, Derek breathed out, sounding relieved. ‘I just wanted… more. More than this.’

‘I’m sorry we can’t have that now’, Stiles was smiling. ‘But right now, I need… incentive.’

‘Incentive?’, Derek was as confused as Harry.

‘We’re about to dive head first into a war’, Stiles kind of deadpanned. ‘I need to know that after…’

He didn’t go on, and it took a little while for Derek to talk. But when he did, it was said softly, very fondly, with just a hint of excitement seeping through.

‘After all of this is over, we’ll spend a day in the Preserve, just you and me. With cold pizza from Jerry’s, and curly fries from Rosie’s because you’re disgusting and your stomach is a bottomless pit. And cinnamon hot chocolate and we’ll make a fire just so we can make s'mores.’

Derek took a deep breath. ‘And we’ll take a nap on the fluffiest blanket I can find. And if you wake up from a nightmare, I’ll be there to bring you back. And if I wake up from a nightmare-‘

‘I’ll be right there’, Stiles cut him off strongly. ‘Also’, he said a bit more hesitantly. ‘Kissing. There better be kissing.’

‘Yes’, Derek breathed out. ‘There better be.’

They didn’t say anything else, but Harry didn’t need to turn around to know that they were hugging strongly, the type of hug where you can’t tell where one person ends and the other one starts.

Hermione sniffed next to him. She was looking at Ron, with a sort of look that Harry recognized in an instant. It was longing, and if Harry would have looked in the mirror, he would have seen it often, every time he thought of Ginny.

But she wasn’t there, and Ron was still obliviously asleep. So Harry took his hand away from Hermione’s hold just so he could wrap her up in a tight hug. He kissed the crown of her head and told her one single word.

‘After.’

‘After’, she agreed. ‘After.’

Ϟ

Of course, Stiles knew the story about Dumbledore’s sister. Harry knew better than to ask where from.

Aberforth was angry, and Harry understood it. He just didn’t care about it.

Not when Neville was stepping through the portrait, looking like hell but smiling wildly at them.

And the Room of Requirement, it was as glorious as horrible Hogwarts was. They all wanted to help, they were all looking expectedly at Harry, but he didn’t have much to give them.

‘I realize that’s not much to go on’, he breathed out.

‘That’s nothing to go on’, Seamus deadpanned.

‘I think it has something to do with Ravenclaw.’, Harry went on. ‘Um, it’ll be small, easily concealed.’

Stiles gasped at that, locking eyes across the room with Luna.

‘Rowena Ravenclaw’s lost diadem’, they both said at once, Stiles continuing with ‘I remember Lydia ranting about it.’

‘Oh, bloody hell. Here we go’, Ron said in a rush.

There was little more talk about the diadem before Ginny came in, saying Harry’s name in a rush. She looked good, unhurt, a lot better than Neville and Seamus.

She was the most beautiful thing Harry has ever seen and he couldn’t find the time to let the feeling of calm and happiness sink in, because she said that Snape knew Harry was seen in Hogsmeade.

‘I have an idea’, Hermione breathed out. ‘It’s…’

‘Impossible and mental?’, Stiles piped up. ‘Just how we like them. Gather round, Young Order of the Phoenix, there’s work to do.’

Harry took a deep breath and joined them in planning.

Ϟ

Harry felt good. Yelling at Snape, seeing McGonagall rush the bastard away, taking care of the Carrows as well.

The Order coming in. The Weaselys, Kingsley, Remus and Tonks. Scott and Laura wolfed out, eyes flashing, flanking Mrs. Hale in her wolf form, Ron and Hermione with their wands ready, Allison and her father with arrows knocked in their bows, Lydia still wearing bright red lipstick, all of his friends, out of hiding.

Harry felt empowered.

It didn’t last long, Voldemort’s voice clear in his ear. In everyone’s ears.

Ϟ

During the chaos that followed Hogwarts refusing to hand Harry over, Hermione and Ron still had an idea about getting basilisk fangs to destroy the Horcruxes, and Stiles and Luna still had an idea about finding Ravenclaw’s diadem.

Stiles updated him on the way. His dad stayed in Beacon Hills with Cora, Mr. Hale was with Melissa and Mrs. Martin in the Infirmary, ready to help the injured, Derek was helping Neville and Seamus blow up the bridge and all the teachers and adults were working on putting protections up around the castle.

Harry was freaked out beyond relief. Not because of Voldemort and everything that was happening, that was a given, but because of Stiles. The other boy was weirdly excited, talking very fast, incredibly fast, with a manic glint in his eyes.

‘Dude’, Stiles leveled him with a look. ‘I’ve been doing this for years now. Near death experiences give me _life_.’

‘How Derek fell in love with you is beyond me’, Harry found himself saying.

Stiles grinned like a psychopath.

‘Search for the diadem now’, Luna said, impatiently. ‘Fixing our love lives later.’

‘Our?’, Stiles yelped. ‘Did Neville finally make a move?’

‘Not yet’, Luna rolled her eyes.

Harry, in his shock, tripped over nothing.

‘Right’, he gulped. ‘Love lives later.’

He needed to fight for Stiles and Derek, for Luna and Neville, so Harry hurried along the corridors.

Ϟ

The castle was in chaos.

Ginny still found him. And she still kissed him.

Shortly and sweetly, her gentle fingers on his jaw.

It was so much. It was everything.

Everything that Harry could ever hope for, happiness in its purest form.

He could die happy now, was his first thought.

He hoped that Ginny wouldn’t die, was his second.

‘I know’, she said, and he was certain she did.

He needed to fight for her, so Harry ran to the Room of Requirement. 

Ϟ

Harry found no joy in fighting Malfoy and his goons.

He just wished that Stiles were there with him. He would have thoroughly enjoyed it.

When Ron yelled ‘That’s my girlfriend, you numpties!’, Harry spare a second to look at Hermione, to see the happiness in her eyes.

He needed to fight for her and for Ron, so he quickly got the diadem.

Ϟ

Stiles, Derek and Scott found them just as Harry was announcing that the snake was the last Horcrux.

Together, they ran through the castle.

It was absolutely horrible. The battle raged on, third years were throwing Unforgivable Curses, the castle, the only place that really felt like home for Harry for so many years, it was crumbling down, stained with blood and pain.

And anger. Harry could hear so much anger around him, the wolves roaring and Stiles screaming, as their spells and claws killed Death Eater after Death Eater.

Everything was in ruins and Harry wanted nothing more than to burn Voldemort.

How dare he? How dare he taint this place? How dare he taint these people? Kill so many and damage all of those that will be left behind?

How dare he take away children and mothers and-

Harry was just angry enough to push through it all.

Ϟ

He didn’t feel anger when Snape was killed. He felt pity.

Harry and Stiles were the only one who approached the dying professor. As Harry tried to stop the bleeding, even though he knew it was futile, Stiles grabbed a hold of Snape’s hand.

They took the man’s last tears. He told Harry that he had his mother’s eyes. He turned around and wanted to say something to Stiles, but didn’t manage it.

It was Stiles that closed the dead man’s eyes, just as Voldemort delivered his next message, a cease fire.

It was Scott that guided everyone to the Great Hall.

Ϟ

Harry couldn’t take it.

All the dead bodies.

Fred, his brothers crying over him as his mother held him.

Remus and Tonks, still holding hands.

So many students.

He was supposed to fight for them. For them to have a better life.

He ran out as fast as he could, straight to the Pensive.

Ϟ

They were all waiting for him.

Hermione and Ron, Scott, Stiles, Derek, Lydia and Allison.

He was grateful that Ginny wasn’t there. Is she were, he wouldn’t have been able to do what was necessary.

‘There’s a reason I can hear the Horcruxes, Hermione’, he wasn’t able to say the words out loud. But it didn’t matter.

‘I think I’ve known for a while. And I think you have too.’

She looked to Stiles.

‘We hoped we were wrong’, the boy whispered, because of course, of course! Stiles figured it out as well.

‘We’ll go with you’, Hermione started crying.

‘No, kill the snake. Kill the snake and then it’s just him.’

Stiles put a hand on Hermione’s shoulder. She shrugged it off quickly and ran to Harry, hugging him so tight his ribs hurt. It was okay, though.

For a second, everything was okay. Harry wrapped his hands around Hermione’s waist and pushed his nose into her hair.

And then his eyes locked with Ron, seeing understanding in his best friend’s gaze. Stiles and Derek were holding hands, Allison was holding Scott’s hand but Lydia’s too.

He managed to smile at them all and he hoped that, in time, they’d move past their grief and understand that Harry died in order for them to leave happy lives. And that he was more than happy to do so.

Stiles followed him for a while, right until they stepped out of Scott and Derek’s hearing range.

‘I’m not sure, but I think death is the most closed you can get.’

Harry smiled at him. ‘I figured as much.’

The complete shock on Stiles’ face was a pretty good last memory to have.

‘It might not work’, Harry added gravely.

Stiles grabbed a hold of his hand, tightly.

‘Try’, he said strongly. ‘You have to try.’

They shared one last shaky smile, and Harry left.

Ϟ

Dying wasn’t what Harry expected it to be like.

It wasn’t pain. It wasn’t darkness and fear.

Instead, it was love. The people he loved and lost, there with him.

Hagrid, who started it all, there when it all ended.

It was relief.

And honesty, it was also a battery charge straight to his heart, because when he woke up, with Dumbledore’s words still in his ear, Harry felt stronger than ever.

Ϟ

For once in what felt like forever, Harry was crying tears of joy.

Neville’s speech, backed up with rude remarks by Stiles, with growls by the wolves and with the rest of Hogwarts keeping their positions, it brought tears of joy to Harry’s eyes.

‘All of them, they didn’t die in vain.’

‘Of course they didn’t’, that was Stiles.

‘But you will.’, Neville went on.

‘Fuck yeah, you will.’

‘Because you’re wrong.’

‘Stupid fuck.’, Stiles said, as several wolves growled.

‘Harry’s heart did beat for us’, Neville all but yelled.

‘For all of us’, Stiles backed him up.

Neville pulled out the sword of Gryffindor.  ‘This is not over!’

Stiles yelled, raising his wand, Hermione and Ron quick to follow him. Derek and Scott let out their claws, Ginny and Luna looked over their shoulders and urged everyone to raise their wands.

These were the people Harry died for. These were the people that Harry loved.

These were the people Harry was going to kill Voldemort for.

These were the people Harry came back to life for.

With a manic grin on his face, quickly aiming a spell at the snake. It missed, but that wasn’t the point.

Harry had faith in his friends, they’ll kill the snake.

He shall be the one to kill Dumbledore.

Ϟ

Harry never felt more powerful in his life then in the moment he explained to Voldemort why The Elder Wand wasn’t working for him.

Even when he killed him, it wasn’t as satisfying as seeing the disappointment in Voldemort’s eyes, directed at himself.

But Tom Riddle did die, once and for all. As Harry was sure it will happen, his friends killed the snake. And he killed the Dark Lord.

Harry felt a lot of things, in the immediate aftermath.

He felt exhilarated and in pain. He felt proud and guilty. He felt happy and devastated.

But most of all, he felt exhausted. He didn’t fall to the ground, because there were strong arms wrapping around him, keeping him up.

‘I got you’, Derek breathed out. ‘I got you, Harry.’

Harry started laughing.

Ϟ

When she saw him entering the Great Hall, Ginny kissed him with a ferocity Harry was too tired to reciprocate. Harry just kissed Ginny with all the love he had for her.

It seemed to be enough, because she smiled wildly at him as they pulled away from each other, and she didn’t let go of his hand for a long while.

Still, she made him look around the Hall.

So Harry saw Aberforth drinking tea with Seamus and Dean. McGonagall standing in the middle of a cluster of first year students, smiling gently at them as she was saying something. Mr. and Mrs. Weasely, talking in hushed tones with Percy. Derek, sitting in a corner, surrounded by his family, with Cora sitting in his lap, holding hands with Stiles like it was a normal occurrence. Neville and Luna sitting side by side, not talking, but Luna resting her head on Neville’s shoulder, folding her fingers over his on the sword. Scott, lying with his head in Allison’s lap, right next to where Lydia and Jackson were wrapped up in each other’s arms. Ron and Hermione, holding hands and sitting close together, Ron kissing her temple or her hand every other second, like he couldn’t help himself.

‘You did it’, Ginny whispered to him, a soft smile on her lips.

He shook his head. ‘ _We_ did it.’

Harry kissed her again, before she could argue with him.

 

**Ϟ  19 YEARS LATER  Ϟ**

Harry took a deep breath, relaxed in the grass, and let everything wash over him.

The sun on his face, the feel of the grass under his fingertips, the smell of the barbeque Mr. Hale was pretending to cook while Mr. Stilinski and Mrs. McCall actually cooked it, his wife’s voice, raising in indignation, as George and Bill were ganking up on her over something, Derek arguing with Laura over something, Mrs. Weasley intervening every now and then, Scott with a bunch of children around, playing basketball.

Someone sat down next to him, and Harry didn’t need to open his eyes to know it was Stiles. Sure enough, he instantly started talking about the case that he was working on.

It was a huge case, so huge that Harry had to involve himself directly. When he first got the file, he didn’t hesitate in assigning Auror Stilinski to the case, it was something right up Stiles’ alley. But as time passed, the case just getting more complicated, and it was an all hands on deck situation.

Honestly, Harry was surprised Stiles managed to take the day off work and spend it at the Hale’s. He was glad he did it, though, because tomorrow was the first day of school and they needed a day to spend together before the kids left for a semester.

When Stiles paused, barely, to breathe, Harry put a hand on his knee.

‘Stop talking about work. Today I’m just Harry, your friend from school, not Auror Potter, you boss.’

Of course, Stiles huffed, only mildly angry. Then Harry felt a weight press over his feet and when he opened his eyes, he saw that Stiles had migrated a bit away from him, just enough to be able to put his legs over Harry’s.

‘This feels very infantile’, Harry said in a deadpan voice.

‘We’ve been friends since we were 15’, Stiles answered in the same manner.

They were both silent for a while, and when Stiles spoke again, because of course it was him to break the silence (some things will never change), he spoke in a very soft voice.

‘Back then, did you ever think we’d get here?’

Harry didn’t hesitate, not one second. ‘No.’

‘Our kids are starting school tomorrow’, Stiles went on, awe slipping through in his tone. ‘We have kids.’

Harry smiled at that, because he still vividly remembered that day, 11 and some years ago.

He had gotten in late at work, because Albus was puking that morning, and while Ginny took care of the baby, Harry had to keep an eye out on James.

When he got into work, he was feeling incredibly bad that he had just been appointed Head Auror a few weeks ago and he was already taking advantage of the fact that he didn’t have a boss to point out he was late. Nobody noticed, because Stiles was taking a large team out to finally catch a bad guy they’ve been after for two weeks.

Stiles came back a couple of hours later, limping, with a dislocated shoulder, bleeding from a gash on his forehead and one on his clavicle, a black eye swollen shut, his hands shaking but still holding on tightly to a baby girl.

A baby girl that was crying, had too much hair on her face and little pointy claws.

‘Stiles’, Harry had breathed out then, his instinct telling him to take the baby away from his shaking hands.

Stiles didn’t let him, tightening his hold on the baby, but Harry could see that he wasn’t hurting her.

‘The bastard killed her pack’, Stiles had looked with wild, wide eyes at the baby, ‘He killed them all, her parents included. He’s in lock up.’

Harry said his name again, going as far as putting a hand over Stiles’. Their wedding rings clinked together, Harry’s a few years older.

Stiles looked up at then, with a look Harry hasn’t seen in years, ever since the Malfoy manor.

‘Call Derek’, Stiles whispered. ‘Please call Der.’

By the end of the work day, Lucy Stiles-Hale was officially adopted, Stiles’ wounds had been taken care of and Derek refused to hand the baby to anyone else but his husband.

Turning back to present times, Harry could hear Lucy yelling at Albus on the basketball court, Scott unsuccessfully trying to calm them down, various other children laughing around.

Stiles was looking at him expectedly.

‘You shouldn’t be nervous about Lucy’s first day at Hogwarts. She’s a smart child and a good werewolf, she’ll probably pick up on your anxiety and it’ll make hers worse.’

Stiles’ prompt response was to, somewhat gently, punch Harry in the stomach.

‘I’m not nervous about that. Derek’s gonna keep an eye out for her every day, just like he does with all the kids-‘

‘Bless Professor Hale, really, teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts was a great decision.’

‘Harry, I’m trying to say something here!’

‘Fine, I’ll shut up’, he relented, even if he was grinning.

Stiles sighed again. ‘For a long while, I honestly didn’t think I’d survive. Even before Voldemort, there were evil werewolves and kanimas and dark druids to worry about. I genuinely thought I was never going to get here. A husband I love, a child I live for, a job I actually enjoy.’

‘And to think it all started with you and Hermione hating each other.’, Harry grinned.

Before Stiles got to answer, Hermione came over and promptly sat down next to them, a very particular look on her face.

‘Ron made the mistake of telling our children about the Room of Requirement.’

‘Oh no’, Stiles frowned.

‘At least he had enough of a brain to not tell them where it is.’

‘Oh good’, Harry smiled.

‘And McGonagall forbid us to give anyone the Marauder’s Map.’

‘Of course’, Stiles nodded.

‘So our children, _all_ of them, are now making copies of the map and making a plan, dividing the territory between them all, in order to find the room.’

‘Are they-‘, Harry tilted his head.

‘All of them will receive equal land to cover and they don’t have a time limit, this quest is not to interfere with their school work.’

‘That’s actually… kinda cool.’, Stiles said, hesitant about Hermione’s reaction.

Harry had no such hesitation. ‘Let them have some fun, Hermione. It’ll take them a while to find it, and when they do, it might do them some good.’

She was preparing to argue that, so Harry threw her a look.

‘It sure did us some good.’

Hermione sighed and didn’t say anything else. Instead, she lay down on the grass next to Harry.

It didn’t take long for Ron to come looking for his wife, snuggling beside her. Then Ginny lay down mostly on top of Harry. Then Derek lay down mostly under Stiles.

Then Allison came with Scott, Lydia brought Cora along and her husband along, so of course Laura and her husband came soon after, George and Angelina wordlessly sat down next to Stiles and Derek, Neville and Luna sprawled just three feet away from everyone, that place being quickly filled with children.

They were the ones doing the talking, all of them in various levels of excitement for school starting, and not one of the parents said one word. They just lay there in the grass for a while, surrounded by the voices of their young ones, their family, their pack.

‘It’ll be all right’, Ginny whispered in his ear. Even after so many years, she still had to say it. He still needed to hear it sometimes.

The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years.

‘No’, Lucy yelled, startling Harry. ‘What do you mean people are going to hate me because my daddy’s a professor?’

‘I mean-‘, Albus started.

‘Not happening’, James said with confidence. ‘Everybody thinks Professor Hale is the coolest, they’ll be jealous you’re his daughter.’

‘Nobody is going to hate you’, Roxanne said from where she was sprawled over George. ‘Unless you’re mean, then everybody’s gonna hate you.’

‘I’m never mean!’, Lucy said, very indignant.

‘You’re only ever mean to me’, Albus pointed out.

‘That doesn’t count’, came the girl’s prompt response.

‘Children!’, Mr. Hale yelled from somewhere close to the house. ‘Dinner’s ready, get our butts down here.’

The kids were all gone in five seconds. Harry counted.

‘Children!’, Mr. Hale went on. ‘Older children! Get your asses down here.’

The adults that remained on the grass all laughed at that, but they did, albeit slowly, made their way over to the house.

All was well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and I didn't fuck up so badly :)


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